CIVICUS

FROM THE DESK OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Civil society heroes languish in prison for over two years
By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General

Issued Date: 24 January 2008

Dear e-CIVICUS Subscriber,

I write to you upon my return from Ethiopia where my colleague Julie Middleton from the CIVICUS Civil Society Watch programme and I were observing the verdict and sentencing of Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie, and offering support to their families, friends and colleagues.

As many of you already know, Daniel and Netsanet are both co-ordinators of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in Ethiopia. Aside from their work with GCAP, Daniel is also head of the policy department at ActionAid International Ethiopia. Netsanet is also the founder and co-director of a local human rights group: Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia. They were both detained early in November 2005. Their arrests came in the wake of demonstrations accusing the government of rigging the 15 May 2005 parliamentary elections -protests which were violently suppressed and where 193 people, including six police officers, lost their lives. At the start of the trial in May 2006, 131 opposition politicians, journalists, civil society leaders and organisations stood accused of a range of charges from genocide to treason. Many of the accused were acquitted during the course of the trial. Others were convicted but pardoned in July and August 2007 - after they had signed a confession, admitting use of "unconstitutional means to change the constitutionally established government functions" following the 2005 elections. Although they were asked to sign a similar statement, Daniel and Netsanet declined. They argued that their activities in 2005 were entirely legal and did not serve to undermine, but rather to protect and promote, Ethiopia's constitutional order. They took a principled position which was informed by their desire not to criminalise the role of civil society, should they have signed the confession. Both have now been detained for over 26 months without bail, despite seven different bail attempts, including appeals to the Supreme Court.

Although the defence case was closed on 2 August, the court has consistently delayed handing down a verdict in their case. In fact, since the beginning of October, there have been multiple postponements by the court. After the final postponement on 30 November, my colleagues in the CIVICUS Civil Society Watch programme and I decided that it was important for us to be present at the verdict on 24 December (I had also travelled to be at one of the postponed hearings on 23 November). We believed it was vital that we were there to offer visible support to Daniel and Netsanet, as well as demonstrating solidarity with their families, friends and civil society colleagues.

My colleague Julie and I travelled to Addis Ababa on the evening of 22 December, arriving later that night. The next morning, Julie met with family members of Daniel and Netsanet to give them the approximately 300 messages of support and solidarity from 42 countries that CIVICUS and GCAP had collected through an online campaign during the preceding two weeks. They were thrilled to receive the messages and expressed gratitude for the support they have received from CIVICUS and GCAP over the last two years. Directly after their meeting, the family visited Daniel and Netsanet in prison for their weekly scheduled visits. Although they were not able to give the messages to Daniel and Netsanet, they described the messages to them, and later told us that the news seemed to visibly raise their spirits.

The next morning, after I gave an interview to SABC Channel Africa on Daniel and Netsanet's plight, we headed to the court. Considering it was Christmas Eve, and many international observers and journalists were on holiday, it was a packed courtroom. Members of Daniel and Netsanet's families and some friends, as well as local and international organisations, including PACT, Irish Aid and Lawyers Without Borders were there, along with media representatives from Voice of America, Bloomberg, Reuters and others. Our colleagues from ActionAid International were there in large numbers, including the chief executive of Action Aid, Ramesh Singh. Diplomatic staff from a number of embassies were also present, including the United States Ambassador to Ethiopia, Donald Yamamoto - the first time that any Head of Mission had attended the trial. After waiting for about half an hour, Daniel and Netsanet walked into the courtroom waving and smiling. The three judges then entered the courtroom, sat down and began to read the verdict.

As the verdict was read out, the people around us became more and more elated. The judges systematically rejected every piece of evidence against them - calling the prosecution's evidence unreliable, inconsistent and trivial. They called Daniel and Netsanet's work professional, fully within the constitution and approved by the court. When the judges acquitted them of the conspiracy and treason charge, the room was visibly excited. But then, in a shocking move, the judges said that Daniel and Netsanet had not adequately challenged or refuted the testimony by two witnesses who claimed Daniel and Netsanet had given them money to distribute a brochure inciting people to riot. This was all the more surprising as the presiding judge had previously described these same two witnesses as unreliable. Nevertheless, based on their testimony, the court found Daniel and Netsanet guilty of 'provocation and preparation of an outrage against the constitutional order' - essentially, incitement. The sentencing was set for 26 December.

It is important to note that in April 2007, after the prosecution had presented their case, the presiding judge, in a minority ruling, took the view that Daniel and Netsanet did not have a case to answer. Unfortunately, in the majority ruling, the two associate judges took a different position. Once again, on 24 December, the presiding judge made a point of disassociating himself from the guilty verdict.

That afternoon we joined Daniel and Netsanet's family and friends, along with seven NGOs, to discuss the verdict. While relieved they had been acquitted of the more serious charge, we were all upset and saddened by the verdict and that Daniel and Netsanet wouldn't be joining us in freedom that day. Following our discussions, we finalised a statement from CIVICUS and GCAP, and sent it out later that evening. The statement is available at: http://www.civicus.org/csw/CIVICUS.GCAP.Ethiopia.PR.24.12.07.htm

I decided to stay on for the sentencing on 26 December, believing again that it was important for us to show our support. The morning of the sentencing, the court was again full of supporters and some media. In the press release issued by CIVICUS after the sentencing, we noted that the statement the judges proceeded to read sounded like a citation for the Nobel Peace Prize - it recognised their contributions to peace, democracy, dialogue and engagement, and the eradication of poverty in Ethiopia - but yet concluded by giving them a sentence of two years and six months. Because Daniel and Netsanet have been well-behaved, have co-operated with the court, and have already spent almost two years and three months in prison, most of the observers and supporters, including their lawyer, are confident they will be released on parole shortly and will not have to serve the remaining three months. Following the sentencing, CIVICUS stated that despite the conviction, Daniel and Netsanet had still been vindicated by the court in their civil society activities. This press release may be found at http://www.civicus.org/csw/CIVICUS.GCAP.Ethiopia.PR.26.12.07.htm

While we remain hopeful that Daniel and Netsanet will soon be reunited with their families, we will continue to support them throughout their remaining time in prison. It is also essential that we encourage the work of civil society organisations in Ethiopia, many of which have fallen into silence out of fear of meeting the same fate as Daniel and Netsanet. We hope the imminent release of Daniel and Netsanet, together with the court's recognition of their good work, will help to re-ignite public debate in Ethiopia about the important role of civil society.

As I write this, Daniel and Netsanet remain in prison waiting to be paroled. We sincerely appeal to the authorities in Ethiopia to please expedite the process to ensure Daniel and Netsanet are released immediately, given that they have served more than two-thirds of their sentence already.

Daniel and Netsanet are people of great integrity. If they had valued their own freedom above their concerns for democracy and, specifically, for securing the rights of civil society, they could have won their freedom six months ago. Their principled stand is one that has inspired many of us and sends a message to all of us, that sacrifices will be called upon from us all, in a world that is fragile, divided and conflicted and where democracy and justice is under threat in so many places. People like Daniel and Netsanet remind us through their actions that civil society activists, as we have always seen in the past, will continue to pay a huge personal price for their commitment to the ideals of true and meaningful democracy, human rights and justice for all.

Warmest regards,

Kumi Naidoo

To send you comments, suggestions or contributions of articles, e-mail editor@civicus.org.

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• 10 December - Human Rights Day

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• The crossroads at Bali -- Choosing our destiny

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• Participation will be the focus of the 8th CIVICUS World Assembly

• Islam: The New Fascism?

• Standing Up for the People of Burma

• Closing the gap between volunteering and social activism

• A poor climate makes for poor people