Three, including girl 17, may have been tortured, are held incommunicado
Amnesty International - December 16, 2007
Mulatu Aberra (m), trader, aged 34
Najima Jamal Ismail (f), aged 17
Najima Jamal Ismail’s stepfather, a trader (name unconfirmed)
Mulata Aberra, a trader of Oromo ethnic origin, has been held incommunicado at a federal police detention centre in Harar city in eastern Ethiopia since his arrest on 29 November. Also arrested at the same time were Najima Jamal Ismail and her stepfather. Najima Jamal Ismail is being held in a women’s detention centre in Harar. Amnesty International has received reports that Mulatu Aberra and possibly the other two have been tortured. Mulatu Aberra and Najima Jamal Ismail were transferred to hospital in Harar on 10 December and were returned to prison on 11 December.
All three appeared together before a court in Harar on 6 December where police obtained permission to extend their detention for investigation into alleged involvement with the armed opposition group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) ...