Free Birtukan

Atlanta Marks Birtukan's One Year in Prison.

Back to Pictures

Ethiopians in Atlanta and surrounding states marked Birtukan’s first year in Prison in a candle light vigil and town hall meeting held on Sunday, December 27, 2009.  In this well-attended gathering, Ethiopians living in South Carolina and Amnesty International representatives from the Atlanta Office, Georgia State University, as well as Washington DC were present to voice their solidarity with Ms Birtukan Mideksa and demand her release from prison.

I remember the 29th of December, 2008. Almost a year ago to the day, the only woman political party leader in Ethiopia’s 3,000-year history was manhandled and abducted to prison. Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, founder and former chairman of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, was an eyewitness to the crime. He told the Voice of America that he was having a conversation with Bitukan and another person outside an office building when four unmarked official vehicles stormed on the scene. Approximately 10 armed men got out and surrounded Birtukan. They grabbed and dragged her into one of the vehicles. One of the thugs savagely assaulted the nearly 80-year old professor with the butt of his rifle. In seconds, Birtukan was snatched away to the infamous Kality prison, and the professor to the hospital.

የፐርዝ ከተማ ኗሪ የሆኑ ኢትዮጵያውያን ማክሰኞ ዲሴምበር 23 ቀን 2009 በምእራብ አውስትራሊያ መስተዳድር፤ የአምኔስቲ ኢንተርናሽናል ጽሕፈት ቤት የሻማ ማብራት ምሽት በማካሄድና፤ በርቱካንን እና ሌሎች የፖለቲካ እስረኞችን ለማስፈታት በዓለም ዙሪያ ከተጀመረው እንቅስቃሴ ጋር የተቀናጀ ዘማቻ በመክፈት የተሳካ ዝግጅት አካሂደዋል።