Ethiopia: Prison administrators fired over torturing inmates

By Engidu Woldie (ESAT News) The federal prosecutor said five officials with the government prison administration have been fired for perpetrating torture and other human rights abuses against political and other prisoners.

Freed political prisoners have exposed on ESAT and other media outlets that torture against inmates by prison officer and their bosses have been a common practice in Ethiopian prisons.

Speaking to reporters, the federal prosecutor, Berhanu Tsegaye also cited corruption and lack of professionalism as additional reasons for firing the federal prison administrators.

The prosecutor said new commissioners and directors have been appointed to lead various department of the federal prison administration.

Several forms torture, including hanging water bottles on prisoners’ genitals, have been committed in Ethiopian prisons, according to accounts of victims released in the last few months. Most of the prisoners that had undergone torture were political prisoners thrown in jail under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation that the regime used its broad interpretations to target opponents and critics of the government.

The Proclamation is expected to be annulled by the Ethiopian parliament this week.