Iran opposition figures arrested after protests28-12-09 | ||||||||||||||
A number of opposition figures have been arrested in Iran, a day after at least eight people died during the most violent protests for months. Those detained include aides to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami. Mr Mousavi's nephew, Seyed Ali Mousavi, was among those killed on Sunday. State media said authorities were doing forensic tests on his and four other bodies, preventing the rapid burials that are usual under Islamic tradition. The bodies had been "retained in order to complete forensic and police examinations and find more leads on this suspicious incident", the Irna news agency reported. The Mousavi family had said earlier that Seyed Ali's body had been taken without their permission from the hospital where it was being held.
Opposition sources said the body had been taken by government agents in order to prevent his funeral becoming a rallying point for more protests. An opposition website, Norooz, said police had fired tear gas on Monday to disperse a group of Mousavi supporters who were demonstrating outside the hospital. According to Mr Mousavi's website, Seyed Ali Mousavi was shot in the back on Sunday as security forces fired on demonstrators in Tehran. Intermittent protests in Iran following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in June have represented the biggest challenge to the government since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Foreign media face severe restrictions in Iran, making reports hard to verify. BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, reporting from London, says the government's immediate response to the latest confrontation has been to arrest senior opposition figures, as it did after protests against the disputed presidential elections in June.
The authorities are blaming troublemakers for the violence, our correspondent says, with the police denying that security forces are responsible for any deaths and suggesting that protesters may have shot each other. The majority hardline block in the Iranian parliament called on "security and judiciary authorities to firmly deal with those who mock Ashura", referring to the Shia Muslim festival that reached its climax on Sunday. But members of the opposition believe Seyed Ali Mousavi was deliberately targeted by the government in an attempt to intimidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Our correspondent adds that the government will be doing itself no favours if it has taken his body because this would outrage religious conservatives, as well as the opposition. 'Shameless act' Among those reported arrested on Monday were opposition politician Ebrahim Yazdi, a foreign minister after the 1979 revolution and now leader of the Freedom Movement of Iran, his nephew, Lily Tavasoli.
Mr Yazdi's son Khalil, who lives in the US, told the BBC's World Today programme he believed the Iranian authorities wanted to close down all opposition groups. "It is a shameless and irresponsible act," he said. "Any opposition now, they want to shut [it] down. We're going down a one-way street that's now going downhill." The Parlemannews website reported that three aides to Mir Hossein Mousavi had been arrested. It also named two aides to reformist former President Mohammad Khatami as being among those rounded up by the authorities. Mousavi Tebrizi, a senior cleric from the holy city of Qom who is close to Mr Mousavi, is also reported to have been arrested, as is human-rights campaigner and journalist Emeddin Baghi. International condemnation After Sunday's clashes, police fired tear gas to disperse crowds of demonstrators in various parts of Tehran overnight, according to reports. On Monday, state-owned English-language Press TV said eight people had died. Earlier, Persian state television had reported at least 15 people killed. The official death toll for Sunday's confrontation is the highest since June, and police said about 300 people had been detained. Amateur footage appeared to show protesters clashing with security forces in Tehran on 27 December Unconfirmed reports, later denied by a local prosecutor, said four people also died in protests in the north-western city of Tabriz. Clashes were also reported in Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran and Shiraz in the south. Moderate cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came fourth in last June's election, criticised Iran's rulers for Sunday's violence, an opposition website reported. The US, the UK, France, Germany and Canada have all condemned the violence. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was "particularly disturbing to hear accounts of the lack of restraint by the security forces" on a day of religious commemoration and reflection. In a strongly-worded statement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised the "unacceptable actions of the security forces" and urged Tehran to respect civil rights. Iranian security forces have been on alert since influential dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died a week ago aged 87. His funeral attracted tens of thousands of pro-reform supporters, many of whom shouted anti-government slogans. And Look at the news below:
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Monday, December 28, 2009
IRAN AND ETHIOPIA - USA MUST ACT NOW
It is time the EU and US realise that the current regime in Ethiopia is repressing the people because it lacks democratic legitimacy 
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The food aid buzz hightening
December 26, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia’s biggest opposition coalition, Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD-MEDREK), who accused government of obstructing foreign aid on Saturday said that its members are being arrested for speaking-out on the alleged aid abuse.
Last month, the opposition group accused Prime minister Meles Zenawi-led government of politicizing foreign-funded humanitarian assistance, using it as a weapon to retain power in next year’s election.
The accusation said that its members are routinely being denied access to foreign aid and now alleges that government is harassing its members to silence their claim.
"Now three days, seven of our members from the northern Tigray region are being secretly held in the capital Addis Ababa and in Desse town" Asrat Abraham, public relations of an opposition within the coalition, Arena Tigray told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.
"They were held by secret agents after the members in person reported regional aid abuse situation to party leaders and to aid organizations in Addis Ababa," Asrat added.
The opposition official who he said hardly managed to speak to one of the held opposition members said that the arrests were in retaliation to the allegation by the opposition members.
"You have backed and reported false allegation on the regional aid system. You won’t be released unless you officially retract your reports in a media outlet" Asrat said as was told by one of the arrested members.
Attempts to verify from a government body didn’t work at the moment.
The ruling EPRDF party has denied only allowing its members to be embraced in country’s food-for-work scheme, the productive safety net program to gain support.
Last month, Ethiopia State Minister for Disaster Management and Food Security Mitiku Kasa, has blasted the allegation saying totally "baseless allegation".
"Government has no intention to discriminate against the poor based on such grounds. After all, it is the community that is mandated to select who should be involved in the programme," Mituku said.
"The programme targets the community and government doesn’t get involved in the selection process. It has nothing to do with politics or political ideology. It’s all absolutely owned by the community. It is the community that has a say in this programme," he said.
There is no separate confirmation yet to support the opposition allegation but some foreign aid organizations in the country are now saying that they will launch a probe into how foreign humanitarian relief supplies are delivered.
Currently Some 7 million Ethiopians heavily rely on the Productive Safety Net Program.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
EU Stands with Ginbot 7
Editor's Note: Following the recent political vendetta by the terrorist regime in power in Ethiopia on Ethiopian freedom fighters , the EU has unveiled its stand.Ethiopians all over the world are also expecting the US State Department's stand on the issue. After the end of the cold war, what popped up was a new ideology of terrorism.Terrorist groups and terrorist governments/regimes have come . In the case of Ethiopia, what came was a terrorist regime 1991 that uses the word terrorist to play its political tricks,label its enemies and win super powers like the US. The US Administration should be aware of such issues and fight terrorists who claim to be fighting terrorism,while they are terrorizing their own nation like the Meles regime in Ethiopia.
Belgium-The Presidency of the European Union expresses its deep concern over the death sentences imposed on five persons in the Ginbot 7 trials by the Federal High Court of Ethiopia. The Presidency recalls the European Union’s longstanding opposition to the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances and has consistently called for its universal abolition.
The Presidency underlines that the European Union considers this punishment cruel and inhuman. It has not been found to act as a deterrent, and any miscarriage of justice represents an irreparable and irreversible loss of human life. Consequently, the death penalty is abolished throughout the European Union. In cases where the death penalty is maintained, internationally recognised minimum standards must be respected. These include all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial and adequate representation.
The Presidency of the European Union calls on the Government of Ethiopia to abolish the death penalty. Noting that only one execution has been carried out in Ethiopia since 1998, the Presidency urges the Government to uphold this moratorium on executions in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 62/149 and 63/138, and, accordingly, to refrain from executing the death sentences imposed in the Ginbot 7 trials.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Democracy remains a Utopia in Ethiopia
Andargachew Tsgie,54 years old
Dr Berhanu Nega,54 years old
Mesfin Aman, 30 years old
Democracy remains a Utopia in Ethiopia
Andargachew Tsgie,54 years oldDr Berhanu Nega,54 years oldMesfin Aman, 30 years oldTuesday, December 22, 2009
5 to die,33 to remain locked....are you ready to hit?
Editors Note: The following is an AP report.What are you ready to do?Retaliate?
Join the mass now!!!!!
An Ethiopian court sentenced five people to death — including an Ethiopian professor teaching at a U.S. university — and 33 to life in prison Tuesday for being members of a terror group and conspiring to assassinate government officials.
Those convicted have been accused of being members of the Ginbot 7 — May 15 in the Ethiopian calendar — which refers to Ethiopia's election day in 2005 when postelection violence killed close to 200 people.
Among those sentenced to death was Berhanu Nega, an exiled opposition leader who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. But Berhanu, currently an associate professor of economics at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, dismissed the legitimacy of the court and its sentence.
"This is what the government wanted in order to continue terrorizing the population, and there is nothing more to it than that," he said Tuesday. "For those of us who know this government, there is no surprise."
Three of the other five sentenced to death are also living in exile outside Ethiopia; one is in custody.
The prosecution asked the court to impose severe penalties because many of the accused were members of the army. Many of those convicted were expected to appeal.
All but two of the defendants in Ethiopian custody have proclaimed their innocence. Two defendants cooperated with the prosecution and were sentenced to 10 years.
Berhanu and more than 100 other opposition politicians were arrested after the 2005 election and put on trial for treason. Berhanu and others were pardoned and freed after 20 months, but the government last week revoked Berhanu's pardon — and that's when Berhanu knew that further action would be taken against him, he said Tuesday.
According to a Bucknell University article on Berhanu, the economics professor was a leader in the democratic opposition in Ethiopia after returning there in the mid-1990s. In 2005, he become the first elected mayor in Ethiopia's history with 75 percent of the vote, but the ruling party declared victory in races throughout the country.
"Thus ended the Ethiopian democratic experiment that had started with such high hopes, leaving the country in the darkness of totalitarian rule," Berhanu said during a talk on campus last year.
Berhanu was jailed after the election and released after 20 months in July 2007. Since his release, he has urged the U.S. and other Western countries to back democratic movements in Ethiopia and withdraw support for dictatorships.
Opposition politicians have for months been pointing to signs of increased oppression in Ethiopia, notably the harassment and arrest of thousands of their candidates in 2008's local elections that they believe allowed the ruling party to sweep the elections.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Ethiopians Dominate Flood Of Africans to Yemen
GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 74,000 Africans fled to Yemen this year, a 50 percent increase over 2008 despite instability in the country, according to figures issued on Friday by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Upheaval and economic strains in the Horn of Africa fueled a rise in migrants paying smugglers and undertaking the hazardous sea crossing, said UNHCRspokesman Andrej Mahecic.
"In some cases they are beaten, raped, killed or just thrown overboard into shark-infested waters," he said, describing the routes across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea as "the busiest and the deadliest one in the world."
Many Africans make the dangerous journey to Yemen in the hope of finding jobs in Saudi Arabia or further afield.
Yemen, which is fighting a Shi'ite rebellion in the north and separatist unrest in the south, said its security forces backed by warplanes killed up to 30 al Qaeda militants on Thursday. A security source said the operations had foiled a planned series of suicide bombings.
Unlike in previous years, Somalis did not account for the majority of people arriving in Yemen in 2009, despite fighting around their capital Mogadishu. A total of 32,800 entered Yemen this year.
More than 42,000 Ethiopians, twice the number recorded in 2008, traveled to Yemen but most went on to the Gulf states in search of jobs, Mahecic said.
Somalis are automatically granted refugee status on arrival in Yemen but people from other countries including Ethiopia must have their status as refugees determined before they can apply for asylum.
"The vast majority of Ethiopians did not approach the (UNHCR) reception centres as they had no intent to seek asylum," Mahecic said. "However, we believe that some of them may have avoided approaching the centres, fearing arrest and detention."
A five-year-old drought which continued in 2009 has caused widespread hunger in Ethiopia, which has a population of 83 million, along with other East African countries [ID:nLM526117]
At least 309 people drowned or were killed during their sea voyage from the Horn of Africa this year, down from 590 last year, although the UNHCR said final figures on people who went missing in 2009 were not yet available.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Meles taking a piss on VIPs-Watch the video below
Friday, December 11, 2009
Meles Zenawi has $1.2 billion in his account
Editors Note:Dear Readers the following report was posted on Wikipedia.It lists the richest leaders and kingdoms of the world.Meles Zenawi is the 10th richest leader. Have a look at it
This is a list of heads of states and governments by their net worth, mostly of their liquid assets in US Dollars. This list should not include crown property and other material goods (although these are sometimes difficult to separate depending on the source) as of August 2008.
