A prominent Ethio-Swedish
cardiologist from Sweden changed the course of medicine and saved
many lives in Ethiopia, but now Dr.Fikru Maru is wrongfully
imprisoned since May, 2013. Ethiopian officials accused him of having
a secret contact with a former chief
of Ethiopian custom's authority, who has been also charged with
suspicion of corruption and in jail since last year.
Right
now, Dr. Fikru is placed in " Kilinto Prison which has
- 3 different zones, and Dr. Fikru belongs to zone 2,
- 7 different rooms, each room carries around 90 prisoners,
- is located in one of the hottest areas of Ethiopia (an average temperature between 35-40 degree Celsius),
- water is very scarce, malaria is rampant and sanitation at its worst.
It's not
only sad but inhumane for a very well known cardiologist to be
treated like petty criminals for the crimes he neither committed nor charged with. He is sleeping on the floor on the flea and mice
infested cell, thousands Kilometers away from his closest family who
live in Sweden. According to his first ever interview he made since
his arrest last year with the Swedish
National Television on July 10th 2014, what saddens
him most at the moment is some of his cardiac patients are dying
since he is the only person who could change cardiac defibrillators
implanted in their body. His Swedish colleagues who used to go and
treat patients at Addis Cardiac Hospital, are not going there for
fear of being detained by the Ethiopian officials.
As a family member said some days ago,
As a family member said some days ago,

