EHRC Report Sheds Light On Appalling, Widespread Rights Abuses Under Police Custody

Beatings, torture, extortion, prolonged detention among alleged crimes

Victims of rights abuses committed while in government custody have come forward with their horrifying accounts in a first-of-its-kind report on deprivations of liberty compiled by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

The report covers a five-year period beginning April 2018 and features testimony from close to 90 victims and witnesses spread across the former Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), Amhara, Oromia and Somali regional states.

The crimes and abuses revealed in the report include violations of the right to be informed of reasons for arrest or corresponding charges, the right to appear before court, the right to legal counsel, and visitation rights. The report also highlights incidences of torture, maltreatment, and prolonged arbitrary and unlawful detention at the hands of government security agents and officials.

In SNNPR, a journalist was arrested twice and detained for no less than 68 days after being accused of working with the Oromia Liberation Army, commonly referred to as OLF-Shene, by the Sodo city administration.

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The journalist maintains he was detained for his work as a reporter and for his advocacy in favor of a separate regional state for the people of Wolaita.

 “When I asked to know the reasons behind my arrest, the police told me that there are none and that they are also not happy about it. But, they said they had to execute the order from the zonal peace and security administration bureau,” he said.

According to victims, the grounds for arrest in SNNPR included gatherings without government approval, raising funds for a political party, campaigning and participating in demands of self-administration, campaigning and voting for Kucha People’s Democratic Party (KPD) in the sixth general election, participating in Wolaitas’ self-determination quest, and expressing political opinions on social media.

Other forms of unlawful arrest include a practice of arresting and detaining family members or relatives of suspects to force suspects to appear before the police.

Ermiyas Issa, director of tactical investigation at the Amaro Special Woreda police bureau, blamed political parties in the area for rendering officials unable to move around and work as a result of misinformation propagated through social media.

He stated that a conflict that sparked as a result of the restructuring of the Segen Area Peoples’ Zone has forced the Woreda’s High Court to shut down completely for two years.

“People in custody could not be released on bail nor be brought before court or admitted to correctional institutions as there was no functioning court or administrative structure,” he said.

Ermiyas admitted that violations of rights had been committed by police officers, but said that it was due to a lack of awareness.

A representative from a justice bureau in another Special Woreda also confirmed that officials from the security department and kebele leadership conducted arbitrary arrests and acknowledged that there were cases where the police failed to implement the recommendations of prosecutors.

He mentioned cases where members of the police force were held accountable for mistreating people in custody.

“In Dirashe Special Woreda, the state of emergency was used to arbitrarily arrest persons fighting corruption and procedural violations. There were cases of officials interfering in judicial functions. When authorities were unable to arrest a suspect, they detained members of their family,” he said.

In the Somali Regional State, seven members of a civic association were arrested while looking after individuals affected by drought in Dollo Zone, with local officials accusing them of incitement, according to the report.

Another individual was arrested on three separate occasions during the state of emergency declared in the region in 2021. He spent a year in detention and police failed to bring him before a court on all three instances.

In the Amhara Regional State, 18 victims told EHRC that they had been detained by police in places far away from their respective residences. They were subsequently moved around from one detention to another at night, according to the report.

Five other victims said they were detained, released following investigations, and detained again for no apparent reason.

The deprivation of rights to liberty featured the detention of family members, detention for exercising rights, and incarceration in informal detention centers, according to the EHRC report.

It reveals that some victims were detained in lieu of suspects. One such victim testified that he and close to a dozen relatives were the subject of arrests in Wad, West Gojjam Zone, where they were held in custody for over a month allegedly because they were related to a suspect who had killed two police officers when they attempted to apprehend him in April 2022.

A similar incident had occurred the month prior, also leading to the arrest of the family members of the suspected perpetrator.

The report indicates that exercising rights to speech was also a frequent cause for arrests and detentions.

Two individuals told EHRC they were arrested for criticizing the government on social media, while 14 individuals say they were detained in a Special Forces camp in Bahir Dar for gathering to discuss the situation in the conflict-ridden region.

Others still were arrested for appealing for compensation for plots of land appropriated by the government for an irrigation project on the Reb River. They told EHRC they were taken into police custody while making an appeal to local courts and subsequently held for five days in a police station in Fogera, a town on the eastern shore on Lake Tana.

Police also intimidated their attorneys in a bid to get them to drop demands for compensation, according to the report.

Victims and witnesses in Amhara Regional State also highlighted the arrest and detainment of individuals in informal detention centers. 

According to testimonies, there were three detention centers: Yetnora (Eastern Gojjam) holding up to 900 people at a time, Tilili (Awi Zone) with close to 700 detainees, and Gayint (Southern Gonder) also holding approximately 700 people.

Police and military camps were also used as informal detention centers, according to the report.

The individuals who spoke to EHRC in the Oromia Regional State all testified they were arrested without a court warrant and were not brought before a court as prescribed by law.

Some victims were kept in special forces camps (Adami Tulu and Jido Kombolcha woreda, Batu Town), National Defense Force camps (Metu Town, Illubabor Zone) and an informal detention facility in Jimma city.

One victim from Adami Tulu told EHRC he was arrested on orders from the local mayor, who accused him of collaborating with OLF-Shene. He claims he fell under suspicion simply because he was able to work without a hitch in an area where the rebel group is known to operate.

He was arrested and taken to a special forces camp, where he was detained for three days without charges.

Procedures for the pre-trial detention period preceding a court appearance vary from region to region.  In SNNPR, reports indicate the period ranged anywhere from three days to seven months, while there was also a practice of repeated remand.

Victims in the Somali region were detained for a period that lasted from one month to close to two years. In the Amhara Regional State, it took a minimum of three days to appear before court and there were recorded instances where detainees waited as long as 83 days before their day in court. Others report being held for over a year in informal detention centers.

However, Hassen Mohammed, deputy commissioner and head of investigations at the Somali regional police commission, maintains that the police brought arrested persons before a court within 24 hours and denied that there were secret detention centers.

Allegations of violations against the right to appear before court were also echoed in Oromia.

The report notes instances where individuals remained in custody for up to a year before appearing before a court. A victim from Metu town said that he was arrested 17 times without criminal charges.

“Shene have no right to appear in court” was the reply one individual received when he demanded arresting officers to take him to court.

The Commission indicated widespread instances of torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, beatings, and the prohibition of medical treatment in all regions included in the inquiry.

A victim fromAmaroWoreda in SNNPR testified that two police officers arrested him and asked him to pay a bribe in January 2018.

When he refused to pay, he said the officers and their colleagues beat him and tied his hands and legs behind his back, locked and left him in a room for three consecutive days. The brutal treatment has left both arms paralyzed, and the victim says he has feeling in only two fingers of his right hand.

Three other victims told the Commission they were subjected to repeated beatings on their genitals. One among them testified that he was severely beaten by the region’s special forces until he collapsed. The incident has left him unable to procreate, trouble controlling his urine, and constant pain in his genitals.

Other victims said they suffered partial loss of hearing and vision as well as more severe disabilities as a result of beatings or torture.

The report details that sexual violence is often used as a form of torture.

A victim from Gamo Zone testified that she was stripped naked and detained for four days. She reported that she was the only female in the detention center, while all the guards were male. She also received several death threats from the police.

Another female victim from Kebridehar, Somali region, who was a member of the Ogaden Liberation Front (ONLF), was stoned and severely beaten by a police officer under alleged instructions from a regional deputy commissioner. She says she was beaten despite telling the officer she had recently undergone a surgery.

Her efforts to file a complaint against the offender were cut short by the senior officer, who had previously beaten her to the point of rupturing her uterus, according to the report.

Deputy Commissioner Hassen Mohammed, who participated in an EHRC public hearing in Jigjiga, responded to the accusations against a senior officer in his police force by saying the victim received 18,000 birr in compensation to cover her medical expenses.

He pledged that the police would conduct an investigation into the incident and claimed the victim did not file a complaint with the police.

Others from Fer Barrecommunity in the Somali region reported that they were subjected to physical torture such as flogging, and had their heads covered with plastic bags filled with powdered pepper while in detention.

They said that they had lost their eyesight and were forced to leave their land as a result of the physical and psychological torture.

People from the cities of Woldiya, Debre Tabor, Bechena, Debecha, Fogera, Bahir Dar, North Mecha, Amber, Debre Markos, Telili and Adet of the Amhara region said they were tortured for various reasons, including for the purpose of obtaining confessions or information.

Some victims in the border town of Metemma report they were beaten and held in dark cells, only seeing light when they were let out to use the bathroom.

Almost all victims who testified experienced inhumane and degrading treatment while they were in custody, during transportation and interrogation. They also added that they were insulted and demonized for their political and ethnic affiliation.

Relatives of suspects also experienced torture, arbitrary detention, and destruction of their property, according to the report.

Worku Yaze, a former Amhara region Supreme Court Justice and current Assistant Professor of Law at Bahir Dar University, told EHRC that judges used to ask suspects about the conditions of their detention.

“It was common for suspects to report beatings and ill treatment. But, government officials ordered judges not to ask such questions,“ he said.

The former judge also shared university research findings which reveal a pattern of arresting and detaining individuals over false charges of terrorism going on for a period of five to seven months, sometimes up to two years, until the summer of 2022.

He noted that the presumption of innocence and the right to be informed of the reasons for arrest are hardly observed.

“The rule of men, not the rule of law, prevailed because the police executed the orders of government officials, not the law,” Worku said. “A person may be subjected to prolonged detentions and repeated remands when a government official orders the detentions; and a detainee may be released immediately, if an official orders it.”

The report quotes the regional president’s legal advisor as saying: “The problem of arbitrary detention is nationwide. The police arrested 200 individuals to identify one suspect. They should use methods less restrictive to human rights.”

He also noted decisions as to whom should be arrested were often made by zonal and woreda administrators rather than police and public prosecutors. He stated that regional courts are used to legitimize unlawful arrests.

“The court should consider only facts of the prosecution to grant bail, and the courts should strengthen their capacity,” said the legal advisor.

On the other hand, representatives from the regional council’s legal and justice affairs committee told EHRC that although problems do exist, there are exaggerations in the testimonies of victims and witnesses.

“Violations of rights occurred when the region was under a state of emergency and ruled by a command post, which justified the suspension of human rights as prescribed by law,” said one representative.

He revealed that the number of individuals arrested during the “law enforcement operation” was 11,000 and said that the police did not have the capacity to conduct investigations.

In Oromia, all victims who testified at a public hearing in Adama said that they were insulted and degraded during their detentions. Several of the victims reported that they had been beaten by security agents until they fell unconscious.

A victim from Sheger City told EHRC that four police officers arrested him in October 2020 in Burayu, on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, and kicked him several times in his neck, hips, and abdomen and beat him with their weapons until he was unconscious, then left him lying on the ground, thinking he was dead.

One of the police officers who beat him arrested him again in June the following year, and took him to a nearby police station, beating him all the while. He told the Commission that one of the officers urinated on him.

He stated the officers stripped him of his clothes and repeatedly struck him with electric cables and sticks until he fell unconscious again, subsequently dumping him in the station’s garbage disposal area, where he remained for two days without medical attention.

He told EHRC the local chief inspector watched while six of his officers took turns beating him.

The report also includes responses from Oromia government officials, representatives of police commissions, justice bureaus, prison commissions and civil society organizations.

Zerihun Dhuguma, deputy head of the Oromia Police Commission, admitted that intimidation, beatings, killings and detaining individuals in informal places might have occurred in some places; but said that the frequency of such practice had declined.

He revealed that his Commission has prosecuted 961 police officers for crimes and subjected over 3,800 officers to disciplinary penalties in 2022 and 2023.

Guyo Wariyo, Oromia attorney-general, noted that prosecutors sometimes closed files before all detainees had been released. He stated that his office has established a joint committee composed of police officers and prosecutors to deal with these detentions.

According to him, the committee has visited police stations and informal detention centers and identified 200 detainees whom they are unable to prosecute for lack of sufficient evidence. The detainees were subsequently released.