ETHIOPIAN AUTHORITY ARREST A SUDANESE ACTIVIST IN ADDISABABA, ETHIOPIA

Priority: Medium

Status: Published

No.: H.K/UA/08/024 Date: 29th July 2024<h4> URGENT APPEAL</h4><h5> ETHIOPIAN AUTHORITY ARREST A SUDANESE ACTIVIST IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA</h5> On 28th July 2024, the Ethiopian security in collaboration with Sudan government arrested a Sudanese activist (Wad Galiba) in Addis Ababa. They did not give reasons for the arrest. This terrified his family members and there is fear for his life incase he’s deported to Sudan. On 28th July 2024 around 5:00 PM (GMT), Mr. Haitham Ali Mohamed (known by name Husham wad Galiba) was arrested from his house in Addis Ababa by six people who came with a seven-seater white car. Out of the six (6) people who conducted the arrest, four (4) were from Ethiopian Federal Security (as indicated on their Identity Cards) and the other two (2) were Sudanese (putting face mask) from Sudan embassy in Addis Ababa (according to their word of mouth that’s how they introduced themselves). Mr. Haitham was taken to the Federal First Instance Court, Ledta branch in Addis Ababa. During the arrest, Mr. Haitham asked for the arrest warrant and they (security) showed him a document written in Amharic language which is unknown to him. He further asked about the content (context) and the reason as to why he was arrested but, they answered him that he will know the reason and other details later at their office. The act (arrest) terrified his family (three-year old child, wife and brother) psychologically and it developed the sense of insecurity among them. They are also worried about the life of Mr. Haitham just in case he is deported to Sudan which means death. HUDO Centre is concerned about the safety of Mr. Haitham/ Husham wad Galiba and calls upon: The Ethiopian government to allow his family visit and to assign a lawyer for him if he is facingan offence and to make the findings public. The Ethiopian authorities to avoid putting him on any risk of death by deporting him to Sudan which (deportation) will be a violation of international law. Sudan Government, to respect the rights of their citizens and to stop threatening them (citizens) The international human rights organization to put pressure on the government of Sudan and Ethiopia to ensure his release and to abandon any deportation attempts. Additional information: Mr. Haitham Ali Mohamed (53 years old), is also known by the name of Husham wad Galiba. He is known by his activism as an investigative journalist. He is active on his Facebook account with more than one hundred and fifty thousand followers. Within the last month, Mr. Wad Galiba repeatedly received threatening telephone calls and WhatsApp messages from Sudan government due to his published articles that are disclosing the corruption and gold smuggling activities. Despite the changes in Sudan governments, Mr. Wad Galiba was (and has been) suffering since al-Bashir regime because of his political activism as journalist. For instance; On 18th November 2017, Mr. Wad Galiba was arrested by Kingdon of Saudi Arabia (KSA) authority in Jeddah and remained in their detention up to his deportation to Sudan, consequently he had lost his job in KSA. On 29th May 2018, he was deported to Sudan where he was tortured by National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) in Khartoum at their detention in Kober prison before a case was filed against him under the article of war against state in Sudan Criminal Code that within its punishment is death sentence. On 15th April 2019, he was released due to the revolution protest waves. On 1st November 2019, he fled Sudan to Ethiopia because of the increasing risk and threats.

ETHIOPIAN AUTHORITY ARREST A SUDANESE ACTIVIST IN ADDISABABA, ETHIOPIA

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