USCIRF Deeply Concerned by
Emerging Religious Freedom Violations in Ethiopia
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November
8, 2012| By USCIRF
The
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is deeply concerned
about the increasing deterioration of religious freedoms for Muslims in
Ethiopia. Since July 2011, the Ethiopian
government has sought to force a change in the sect of Islam practiced
nationwide and has punished clergy and laity who have resisted. Muslims throughout Ethiopia have been
arrested during peaceful protests: On October 29, the Ethiopia government
charged 29 protestors with terrorism and attempting to establish an Islamic
state.
“These
charges are only the latest and most concerning attempt by the Ethiopian government to crush
opposition to its efforts to control the practice of religion by imposing on
Ethiopian Muslims a specific interpretation of Islam,” said USCIRF Commissioner Azizah
al-Hibri. “The individuals charged were
among tens of thousands peacefully protesting the government’s violations of
international standards and their constitutional right to religious freedom. The Ethiopian government should cease
interfering in the internal affairs of its Muslim community and immediately and
unconditionally release those wrongfully imprisoned.”
Since
July 2011, the Ethiopian government has sought to impose the al-Ahbash Islamic
sect on the country’s Muslim community, a community that traditionally has
practiced the Sufi form of Islam. The
government also has manipulated the election of the new leaders of the Ethiopia
Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC).
Previously viewed as an independent body, EIASC is now viewed as a
government-controlled institution. The
arrests, terrorism charges and takeover of EIASC signify a troubling escalation
in the government’s attempts to control Ethiopia’s Muslim community and provide
further evidence of a decline in religious freedom in Ethiopia.
“The
U.S. government should raise with the new leadership in Addis Ababa the
importance of abiding by Ethiopia’s own constitution and international
standards on freedom of religion of belief.
USCIRF has found that repressing religious communities in the name of
countering extremism leads to more extremism, greater instability, and possibly
violence,” said USCIRF Chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett. “Given Ethiopia’s strategic importance in the
Horn of Africa and that Muslims account for more than one-third of all
Ethiopians, it is vital that the Ethiopian government end its religious freedom
abuses and allow Muslims to practice peacefully their faith as they see
fit. Otherwise, the government’s current
policies and practices will lead to greater destabilization of an already
volatile region.”
Background
Ethiopian
Muslims traditionally are Sufis. Article
27 of the Ethiopian constitution guarantees religious freedom and “the
independence of the state from religion.”
However,
due to a concern about the rise of Wahhabism in Ethiopia, the government in
July 2011 brought al-Ahbash imams from Lebanon to train Ethiopian imams and
Islamic school educators on that sect’s beliefs to teach their students and
worshippers. The government dismissed
from their positions those who refused to be trained in or teach al-Ahbash and
closed mosques and schools. Beginning in
December 2011, protests have been held almost every Friday outside of mosques
after prayers. While these
demonstrations have taken place nationwide, they are centered at the Awalia
Mosque and Islamic school in Addis Ababa.
As
the protests continued, an Arbitration Committee of 17 Islamic leaders was
created this past spring to negotiate with the government about: 1) respecting
the Ethiopian constitution’s guarantees of religious freedom; 2) ending
government imposition of al-Ahbash on Ethiopian Muslims, while allowing
al-Ahbash to operate equally with other religious communities; 3) re-opening
and returning schools and mosques to their original imams and administrators;
and 4) holding new elections for the EIASC, and having these elections take
place in mosques, rather than in
neighborhood government community centers, to ensure that the community’s
selections would be honored.
By
July, the negotiations had failed and the protests increased in both size and
frequency. In response, the Ethiopian
government started to crack down on and intimidate the demonstrators,
surrounding them with armed guards and conducting house-to-house searches. Between July 13 and 21, the government
arrested all 17 members of the Arbitration Committee and at least 70
protestors. (While the government has confirmed 70 people were arrested,
demonstrators place the number in the hundreds). Human rights organizations reported that the
police used excessive force against individuals during the arrests and while in
detention. While many were released
after being held for a short time, nine of the Arbitration Committee members
remain in jail.
The
charges the government leveled on October 29 were the first issued against any
of the arrested protestors, including the nine Arbitration Committee members
who were not released with their colleagues in July. The individuals charged were first detained and
held in Maikelwai federal police detention center, which frequently houses
political prisoners and is known for abusing prisoners, including torturing
them during interrogations. The
individuals detained also were charged under the nation’s anti-terror law which
has been used to target dissent, rather than to stop terrorism.
Protestors
now hold up yellow or white placards to signal that they are peaceful and to
condemn the arrests and charges. While
the demonstrations largely have been peaceful, there have been a few violent
incidents: On October 21, 2011 four
Muslims were killed as they stormed a jail attempting to free protestors and in
April 2012 five people were killed protesting the dismissal of an imam who
refused to propagate al-Ahbash.
To
interview a USCIRF Commissioner please contact Samantha Schnitzer at
sschnitzer@uscirf.gov or (202) 786-0613.
