All Oromos to Get Mobilized and Save Mesfin Itana

Another Oromo political activist is about to pay with his life the commitment to the struggle for an independent Oromia: Mesfin Itana.

Taken in the Kaliti jail, and exposed to infections due to his torture and prolonged malnourishment, Mesfin Itana has to get operated under safe conditions, something that is certainly not guaranteed in Abyssinia (fake ‘Ethiopia’).

By now Mesfin Itana has only one hope: what we all will able to do for him.

A demand of visa for immediate operation in a hospital abroad must be introduced to all the foreign embassies and consulates at Finfinnee; sent by email or fax, with the accompanying OLF Press Release, the demand must state that for humanitarian purposes, all ambassadors and consuls should carry out the appropriate demarches, asking for the immediate release and transportation of Mesfin Itana to their country; they should also make the appropriate arrangements with hospitals in their respective countries.

Similarly, all humanitarian NGOs should be contacted and their help in this matter sought after.

Flood the foreign embassies and consulates with emails; call them, fax the detailed narration of the OLF Press Release. Contact any humanitarian NGO, wherever you are; ask them to exercise all their influence over their respective governments too.

We still can save Mesfin Itana!

I republish here the OLF Press Release integrally. To help you in finding contacts, I add several links. Contacts of selected international NGOs can be found here: http://library.duke.edu/research/subject/guides/ngo_guide/ngo_links/index.html. Here you have a list of humanitarian NGOs, members of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) International (which is an international body):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_Accountability_Partnership_International. And here you have the contacts of the foreign embassies and consulates at Finfinnee: http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Ethiopia. Flood them all with your rightful demands, fax and emails. Call them, remind them that they still are human beings, and that the fate of Mesfin Itana concerns them too.

Save Mesfin Itana!

Oromo Nationalist and Prisoner Mesfin Itana In Danger of Losing His Life

(OLF News - October 23, 2008)

Mr. Mesfin Itana was arrested from his home 6 years ago accused of having link to the bombing of Tigrai Hotel in Finfinnee (Addis Ababa). Since then he is reported to have been brutally tortured and beaten on a regular basis in the notorious Kalitti prison, as a result of which he now incurred a fatal illness and he is currently on the verge of death. Caused by infections due to the constant torture and a severe malnourishment in a prolonged detention of over six years, it is reported that Mr Mesfin Itana is subjected to two surgeries of his reproductive organ in just one month. The Wayyaanee "health professionals" later claimed to have made mistakes in the first two surgeries and reportedly tried to make a third one. Feared for his life, Mr Mesfin Itana refused the third surgery of his reproductive organ, and is now in a critical condition.

It is to be noted that one of the torturing methods of the current regime is to hang a bottle of water on the men’s reproductive organ (testicle) and leaving there for a long time causing a severe pain. The idea is to force the victims of the torture "confess the crime" they claim the prisoners have committed and have the victims solicit the names of other Oromo individuals who they think may have participated in the said crime. However, more often, when victims are unable to stand the brutal torture, they simply tell the names of their friends and relatives to get a temporary relief from the severe pain. One such incident is, when an Oromo farmer was asked what kind of weapons he hid in his area, he listed to the TPLF agents all kinds of weapons he knew. But the TPLF cadres are never satisfied, and they continued asking the farmer "what else"? Then the farmer responded that he buried a tank in his backyard. Such is the result of blind brutal torture.

Meanwhile, the beating and torture of Mr Mesfin Itana continued even when he is severely ill, inflicting a deadly wound on his forehead, and he is forced to have three other surgeries on his head just recently. Consequently, Mr Mesfin Itana is on the verge of losing his life in prison, just as so many Oromo prisoners died in Kalitti detention center and many other jails in Oromia and elsewhere in the Empire.

It is to be recalled that several Oromo prisoners such as Mesfin Mosisa, Wako Tola, university students Alemayehu Gerba, Gadisa Hirphasa, Morkata Iddosa, and many other Oromo prisoners lost their lives in detention centers in exactly the same situation as a result of an unbearable beating and torture. Our reporters from Finfinnee alarmed that Mr Mesfin Itana will very likely lose his life soon in the hands of TPLF/Wayyaanee forces.

All Oromo nationals living in Oromia and abroad have been urged to appeal to humanitarian, governmental and non-governmental organizations to save the life of Mr Mesfin Itana and thousands of other Oromo prisoners suffering in several detention centers under Meles Zenawi regime.

For most humans the worst thing they fear is death. But for many Oromo nationals the worst thing they fear, even more than death, is falling in the hands of TPLF beasts who do not have the slightest sympathy not only for any Oromo individual’s life but also for their suffering. Mr Mesfin Itana and many Oromo nationalists who fell in the hands of TPLF forces are simply peaceful civilians who have had unlucky day of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

OLF News (October 23, 2008)
oromiannews@yahoo.com