Teenage Ethiopian Boy Sentenced to 14 years with Bogus 'Homosexual Act's' Charge

Damage Control For Minister Zenebu or what?

 

It seems like TPLF led government and its 'judiciary' in Ethiopia are in a mood to make damage control following the scandal surrounding Minister Zenebu Tadesse's  protesting tweet against Uganda's Anti-Gay bill on her 'hacked twitter account'. The timing and the prey/scapegoat can't go wrong; even if the prosecutor couldn't bring any eye witness account and circumstantial evidence other than just the victim's psychiatric examination, the judge opted to sentence the alleged rapist to such a harsh punishment in which he is going to spend more than a decade of his adolescent life in prison. 

No Evidence but Guilty, TPLF Style 

The 17-year-old teenager, was charged for allegedly engaging in homosexual acts with his nephew and was sentenced to 14 years of jail on March 4th, 2014. 

The defendant argued denying the charges and brought four witnesses to testify on his behalf. One of the witnesses was the father of the victim. He insisted that his brother

Pro Government Youth Group Eyes Homophobic Rally in the Ethiopian Capital

Let The Hate Begins!

Chairman of the youth forum, Hailemichael Bizuayehu told The Reporter (one of the few government affiliated 'private' media outlets in Ethiopia) that the anti-Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) demonstrations are being organized in collaboration with a religious association known as Weyneye Abune Teklehaimanot Spiritual Association. 

Hailemichael, disclosed his partners in hate such as the Addis Ababa City Culture and Tourism Bureau, Addis Ababa Labor and Social Affairs Bureau, Women, Youth and Children Affairs Bureau and the Addis Ababa Police Commission. The forum, which boasts to have over 55 thousand members in Addis Ababa, is expecting over 200 thousands people to be on its hate bandwagon and protest against LGBT rights. The chairman denied the planned demonstration has no relation to the recent incident involving Minister Zenebu Tadesse's controversial Twitter message against Uganda's anti-LGBT bill.

የህውሃት ተከታዮች የጥላቻ ዘመቻ በቅርቡ በአዲስ አበባ ለማድረግ ጥያቄ አቀረቡ

ከ55 ሺሕ በላይ አባላት አሉኝ የሚለው የአዲስ አበባ አስተዳደር ወጣቶች ፎረም፣ ሁለት መቶ ሺሕ ሰዎች ተሳታፊ የሚሆኑበት ፀረ ተመሳሳይ ጾታ ተጓዳኞች ሰላማዊ ሠልፍ በመጋቢት ወር 2006 ዓ.ም. በአዲስ አበባ ለማካሄድ ጥያቄ አቀረበ፡፡

ከቀናት በፊት ለአዲስ አበባ ከተማ አስተዳደር ደብዳቤ ማስገባቱን፣ የፎረሙ ወጣት ተኮር ዘርፍ ሰብሳቢ ኃይለ ሚካኤል ብዙአየሁ በሳምንት ሁለት ጊዜ ለሚታተመው የመንግስት  ደጋፊ እንደሆነ ለሚታማው የሪፖርተር ገልጿል፡፡ 

ፎረሙ ሰላማዊ ሠልፍ ብቻም ሳይሆን የሃይማኖት ተቋማትን ጨምሮ የተለያዩ ተቋማት ተወካዮች የሚገኙበትና ብዙዎች የሚካፈሉበት የውይይት መድረክ ለማድረግ ማቀዱም ተገልጿል፡፡ ፎረሙ የፀረ ግብረ ሰዶማዊነት ሰላማዊ ሠልፍ ለማድረግ ለከተማ አስተዳደሩ ጥያቄ ያቀረበው፣ ከዚህ ቀደም በኢትዮጵያ የግብረ ሰዶማውያንን ሕይወት የሚያሳይ ዘጋቢ ፊልም ካሳተመው ወይንዬ አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት ከሚሰኝ መንፈሳዊ ማኅበር ጋር በመተግበር እንደሆነ ኃይለ ሚካኤል ተናግሯል፡፡

ሙሉ ዝርዝሩን ለማንበብ

የዘነቡ ታደሰ የትዊተር ገጽ "የተጠለፈው" ይቅርታ የተከረቸመው የለውጥ ሃዋርያ ወይስ ኢሞራላዊ ምኒስትር ስለሆኑ?

 መንግሥት አካውንታቸው ተጠልፏል እያለ ነው

የሴቶች፣ የሕፃናትና የወጣቶች ጉዳይ ሚኒስትሯ ወይዘሮ ዘነቡ ታደሰ የካቲት 17 ቀን 2006 ዓ.ም. በትዊተር ማኅበራዊ ገጻቸው ላይ፣ ‹‹በተወዳጇ አፍሪካዬ ውስጥ ጥላቻና መገለል ቦታ የላቸውም፡፡

የአለባበስ ሥርዓት ወይም የፀረ ተመሳሳይ ጾታ ተጓዳኞች ሕጐችን ማውጣት የመንግሥታት ሥራ አይደለም፤›› በሚል የወጣው መልዕክት አነጋጋሪ ሆኗል፡፡ መንግሥት ግን የሚኒስትሯ የትዊተር አካውንት መጠለፉን ገልጾ፣ ይህ መልዕክት የሚኒስትሯንም ሆነ የመንግሥትን አቋም አይወክልም ሲል

Ethiopia: ’A Graveyard for Homosexuals’

"I won't quit anti-gay advocacy until Ethiopia adopts the death penalty". " United for Life's president, Seyoum Antonius

"I don't want a gay son. You are not my son from this minute. It is better to kill yourself than be gay." An Ethiopian Father

 "Ethiopia is supposed to be clean and holy, I felt like such a dirty person for having those feelings." Exiled Ethiopian gay man

Does Homosexuality exist in the Holy land Ethiopia?

It was last Friday that I came across with these terrifying and troubling facts on Newsweek ( one of my favorite news-magazines I grew up with reading back in the days). One of my followers on twitter re-twitted it from his follower with a subject-line: "Ethiopia is a graveyard for all sorts of human rights". Well,  I couldn't resist my curiosity but found out that my follower's follower altered the original title "A graveyard for homosexuals" for some unknown reasons when he shared. Anyway, I know the human-rights abuses is bad but the anecdotes at the beginning of this piece speak volumes about the atrocities, discrimination and abuses against Ethiopian sexual minorities not only by the government but also anyone including their parents in that country. Katie Jim A. Baker of the Newsweek should be commended for writing such a very detailed, well-researched long feature by interviewing the victims, various international watchdogs, governmental and non-governmental officials. Claire Beston, Amnesty International's Ethiopia researcher told Newsweek that Ethiopia wasn't on the radar due to limited resources and difficulties getting around the anti-advocacy law. "The U.S., U.K. and other governments give huge amounts of aid to Ethiopia while remaining tight-lipped about the extensive violations of human rights happening throughout the country," Beston said. According to Pew Global Attitudes Study conducted in 2007, ninety-seven percent of Ethiopians would like homosexuality to be outlawed in the country. Honestly, I wasn't really surprised when I read this statistics because I know homophobia is highly prevalent due to patriarchy, centuries old cultural and religious beliefs and deep rooted ignorance. Katie explored these phenomenon in her writing; it's not uncommon to hear derogatory, sexist, bigoted and stereotyped comments against LGBT groups by highly educated Ethiopians at home and abroad.
 Ethiopian LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) activists to home and abroad to shade lights about the plights these minorities. International human right groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published reports in the past but were surprised that Katie was able to conduct with members of Ethiopian LGBT groups and warned her to check up on sources after the story comes, because "