Over thirty leaders of the main opposition party, Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), championing peaceful struggle for democracy in Ethiopia have entered their fifth week in a solitary confinement. Members of the Ethiopian private free press numbering over 15 are also languishing in the central police investigation department.

37 days have elapsed since professor Mesfin, the leading Ethiopian human rights activist, has been thrown into prison. Save for the first few days when he used to live on just one apple per day, for the most part of his detention period Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam has continued to refuse eating food in protest against his illegal detention. Professor Mesfin has clearly stated that he “would rather die than accept the violation of his freedom brought about by his unjustified imprisonment on account of trumped-up charges of treason” orchestrated by the incumbent government. Since weeks he has only been taking in fluid and nothing else. Due to his continued refusal to eat, he has already lost 20 kilograms of weight in 37 days. He is extremely exhausted and it even costs him a lot of energy to speak or utter words. During the brief visits at which relatives and friends are allowed to talk to him, professor Mesfin tries to give the impression of being well and in good shape. But visitors have clearly observed his extreme exhaustion which betrays the frail health condition he is in. The hunger strike this elderly man of 75 years of age has embarked upon has very serious and far-reaching medical consequences that would endanger his life.

Medical Aspects of a Hunger Strike: 

According to the World Medical Assembly (WMA) held at Marbella, Spain, September 1992:

“A hunger striker is a mentally competent person who has indicated that he has decided to embark on a hunger strike and has refused to take food and/or fluids for a significant interval”.  

Further the august World Medical Assembly outlines the following ethical behaviors which prison authorities need to adhere to in case of hunger strike by a prisoner who is under their custody:   

1 - “A doctor should acquire a detailed medical history of the patient where possible.

 2 - A doctor should carry out a thorough examination of the patient at the onset of the hunger strike.

3 - The hunger striker must be professionally informed by the doctor of the clinical consequences of a hunger strike, and of any specific danger to his own particular case. An informed decision can only be made on the basis of clear communication.

4 - Treating infections or advising the patient to increase his oral intake of fluid (or accept intravenous saline solutions) is often acceptable to a hunger striker.

5 - The doctor should ascertain on a daily basis whether or not the patient wishes to continue with his hunger strike. The doctor should also ascertain on a daily basis what the patient's wishes are with regard to treatment should he become unable to make an informed decision. These findings must be recorded in the doctor’s personal medical records and kept confidential”.

As we can clearly see, the conditions under which professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam and the other CUD leaders are held are such that all the above provisions which should have been met before these people embarked on hunger strike are woefully lacking or non existent in the specific context of TPLF prison where professor Mesfin and other CUD leaders and journalists are locked up. Ethiopia happens to be a member of the World Medical Association which organized the World Medical Assembly held in Marbella, Spain that adopted the ethical behaviors that are enumerated above. As such it is duty bound to adhere to the implementation of the ethical codes adopted by this august world body of which it is a member.  

Both Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam who has been only been only on fluids for many weeks now and the other CUD leaders who are on a hunger strike since last week, have not undergone any medical check-up (a necessary procedure established by the august body of the World Medical Assembly), prior to embarking on their hunger strike. Professor Mesfin’s condition is extremely worrying given the fact that he has already lost 20 kilograms of weight. The adverse metabolic consequences of a weight loss of such magnitude for a man of advanced age such as professor Mesfin are very alarming. The ramifications of the metabolic catabolism (break down) on the function of the vital organs such as the brain, heart, kidney, liver, etc are far reaching and deleterious. Muscle atrophy (contraction of muscle weight and by extension muscle function especially heart muscles), unchecked protein catabolism (break down) can lead to death. The lack of calorie intake consequent upon the hunger strike which has been going on for weeks in the case of professor Mesfin would eventually severely affect the involuntary functions of the body such as breathing, pumping of blood, temperature and blood pressure regulation, etc. Further, the failure of major organs such as the kidney which excrete toxic substances (acid loads) out of the body, the failure of major organs such as liver - a major organ which detoxifies dangerous metabolic products can have a deadly effect. The immune system of a hunger striker is further compromised by the lack of calorie intake and psychological stress to which the hunger striker is deliberately exposed by virtue of being locked up illegally and held incommunicado in solitary confinement. What is even more painful to realize is the fact that professor Mesfin is suffering from a very chronic ache that severely affects his back, joints, legs and feet. This chronic pain necessitates a strong pain killer (medication). Under circumstances of a prolonged hunger strike, he cannot take in medicine on an empty stomach. The reader can imagine each painful minute he has to endure under circumstances where he cannot swallow a pain killer as he is on a hunger strike. This may be okay for his tormentors (the TPLF regime) who see in him and the other CUD leaders, members and sympathizers the “parasitic” enemy with which they have identified CUD. The depiction of CUD leaders, members and sympathizers as parasites was made public when the TPLF regime released its 91 pages-long policy document paper written in the Amharic language and is entitled “Democracy and Democratic Unity in Ethiopia”. This document was released in June 2005 following the 15^th of May election at which TPLF had been flatly rejected by the overwhelming majority of Ethiopians. Once a victimizer identifies a fellow human being as a parasite i.e. a subhuman creature, then there is no moral compulsion or restraint that prevents the victimizer (the TPLF regime) from dehumanizing another fellow human being in a barbaric way. For TPLF leaders and followers, the CUD leaders, members and sympathizers constitute subhuman creatures whose suffering, persecution and even cruel death does not arouse moral revulsion or outrage as we have abundantly seen during the last weeks of massive crack-down on innocent Ethiopian civilians with a cruelty that continues to defy any historical parallel in our recent memory.     

Political Indifference of an Ethnicist Regime:

These hunger strikers are in the hands of a regime which considers these CUD leaders, members and sympathizers not as political opponents but as enemies. The concept of political opponent whose views should be peacefully challenged is anathema to TPLF and is unknown in its political vocabulary. An ethnicist regime does not recognize the humanity of those outside its ethnic group. It does not also recognize the humanity of those individuals from among its ethnic group who defy its dictate of thinking and acting within the narrowly prescribed ethnic matrix. Judging by what the minority TPLF regime has done to tens of thousands of young Ethiopians in recent weeks by deliberately exposing them to HIV infection, malaria and communicable diseases such as typhus, our worry that TPLF would go ahead with its barbaric measure of endangering the lives of professor Mesfin and other CUD leaders, become all the more real. Exactly 70 years ago Italian fascists known as Black Shirts hunted down and killed the few and best educated sons and daughters of Ethiopia. And today, TPLF’s virulent ethnonationalists under the command of prime minister Meles Zenawi, like their Italian fascist counterparts before them, are exposing Ethiopia’s best intellectuals and towering figures such as professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam to a slow but inevitable death on trumped-up charges of treason. Professor Mesfin and the CUD leaders and all democratic-minded Ethiopian prisoners of conscience currently languishing in the dungeons of TPLF do not deserve death for having tried to materialize the quest of Ethiopians for peace and democracy. The CUD leaders do not deserve death for having boldly pioneered a novel project which has set out to replace the violent political culture of Ethiopia by a new democratic and peaceful political culture where diversity of opinions is celebrated and free competition of ideas is enshrined.   

The TPLF kangaroo court has on two occasions denied CUD leaders their bail rights and refused to release them on bail. This court ruling which denied them bail rights has been passed by TPLF’s kangaroo court led by a trusted TPLF judge by the name of Mr. Leuel. The next judge higher up in the hierarchy is a TPLF member by the name of Mr. Hagos Woldu. This is a man who is known for his notoriety in passing harsh verdict on TPLF’s political opponents (read enemies as TPLF does not recognize political opponents) by siding with his political organization – the ruling Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The highest court in Ethiopia which will eventually decide on the lives of CUD leaders is headed by Mr. Menbere Tsehay. As a TPLF member and judge, he presides over one of the highest federal court in the country. In the past 14 years, both Mr. Hagos Woldu and Mr. Membere Tsehay have proven their ethnicist mettle by persecuting TPLF’s political opponents such as the late professor Asrat Woldeyes. These two TPLF judges have deliberately condemned to death, albeit indirectly, after forcing the legendary Ethiopian surgeon Professor Asrat Woldeyes run the gauntlet of the never-ending marathon sessions of TPLF’s kangaroo court on more than 89 occasions thereby denying this elderly man proper medical treatment while in prison. Finally this peaceful man who has been declared “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International (AI) was exposed to repeated bouts of stroke. By the time he was released, albeit under international pressure, for medical treatment and flown to London-UK, 75% of his heart muscles have suffered irreversible damage according to the report of the heart specialists who examined him. From here on, Professor Asrat’s death was imminent and he finally collapsed a few months hereafter in a US hospital. What transpired in the yester years should alert us to the danger hanging on the lives Professor Mesfin, CUD leaders, journalists and other members of opposition political groups currently languishing in TPLF’s dungeons.  

A Plea for International Intervention:

We call on all Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia across the world to rise up to the occasion and apply the maximum pressure on Western governments whose financial, diplomatic and political support has emboldened the minority TPLF regime to ride roughshod over millions of Ethiopians by dehumanizing them and polarizing Ethiopian society. We appeal to international bodies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Physicians for Human Rights (HRP), Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) to intervene on behalf of Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam and the other CUD leaders who are on a hunger strike with a view to a speedy release of these CUD leaders on whose heads the Damoclean sword is hanging. These are all individuals who have been justifiably been declared “prisoners of conscience” by Amnesty International. We need to do our utmost to save the lives of these compatriots!!!!

Assefa Negash, M.D.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

E-mail address: Debesso@Gmail.com