Alarming rise in individuals abducted by police and taken to secret camps: EHRC

The number of individuals abducted by police and security forces and transported to undisclosed camps under military control is alarming, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) reported.

On Wednesday, October 23, 2024, the EHRC reported that the situation of individuals subjected to “extended detention,” confined in “irregular facilities,” and held incommunicado with unknown whereabouts is “alarming.”

In the statement, the commission reported that since July, more than 52 individuals have been abducted by police and security forces, with their fate remaining unclear.

The EHRC has received information regarding over 44 politically motivated abductions followed by disappearances. Some individuals have been released, and the commission confirmed that those released had been held for varying periods between one and nine months. Among them were “individuals whose cases were being considered in court.” However, the EHRC could not investigate the conditions of individuals held in “informal detention facilities” under military custody.

The state-appointed human rights commission reported that detainees were “threatened and beaten” in these secret detention facilities. It further noted that individuals were held in conditions without access to “toilets, clean bedding, hygiene products, and adequate food and drink.”

The EHRC has received various reports detailing abductions involving vehicles without license plates, carried out by security forces in plain clothes or by uniformed personnel who did not adhere to proper legal procedures. Upon their release from prison, victims reported being “blindfolded and dropped off at night in various parts of Addis Ababa.”

Victims approached by the EHRC reported experiencing “social damage and financial losses” during their incarceration, along with “significant psychological trauma,” and stated that they are still living in “fear.” Many of them noted that they had to pay money to be released from prison, highlighting the gravity of the situation.