Louis Michel

European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid

Berlaymont 10 / 165

1049 Brussels

Belgium

Dear Commissioner,

Birtukan Mideksa is currently being held in solitary confinement while serving a life sentence following the revocation of a pardon she received in mid-2007. She was convicted for co-leading opposition protests against the 2005 election results, during which some 187 demonstrators and at least six police were killed. She was sentenced in 2006 alongside other opposition leaders, journalists and human rights defenders.

In mid-2007 the majority of those found guilty, including Birtukan Mideksa, signed letters of apology and were subsequently pardoned and released. However, the exact terms of their pardons remain unclear.

In November 2008 Birtukan Mideksa spoke at a public meeting in Sweden, describing the negotiations that led to her release, including the letter of apology she had signed. Upon her return to Addis Ababa, the government of Ethiopia gave her three days to retract her statement, which she refused to do. On 28 December she was rearrested. Her pardon was then revoked and her original life sentence re-imposed.

She is currently being held in a cell said to measure two metres square, which previous inmates say is often unbearably hot. Despite being allowed visits from her four-year-old daughter, her mother and her sister, she is at risk of ill-treatment because of her overall isolation.

The European Commission could use its significant influence with the Ethiopian government to press for Birtukan Mideksa’s release. I request that you use all diplomatic means to press the Ethiopian government to release Birtukan Mideksa immediately and unconditionally.

Yours sincerely,

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