Accused of genocide, Ethiopian NSU prof fights for his life

The Virginian-Pilot

In a perverse way, you’ve got to hand it to Ethiopia’s government. It’s nothing if not long on a depraved sense of irony.

The leaders running this authoritarian nation, gussied up to look like a democracy to ensure a steady flow of foreign aid money, recently charged former Norfolk State University business law Professor Yacob Hailemariam with genocide.

Yes, genocide.

What makes this wild accusation rich is that a decade ago, Hailemariam worked as the lead prosecutor for the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, putting the genocidal thugs who murdered nearly 1 million Rwandan Tutsis behind bars.

Hailemariam, a former Kempsville resident whose family still lives in that neighborhood, left Virginia Beach and returned to Ethiopia last year to spread the notions of democracy he’d observed during his decades in America.

He won a parliamentary seat as a member of the pro-democracy opposition last May, in what was billed as Ethiopia’s first open elections.

But Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s party, in charge of vote counting, claimed it had won 60 percent of the ballots . It gutted parliament to concentrate power in the prime minister’s hands.

Hailemariam and his pro-democracy colleagues — many of whom are U.S. residents and graduates of American universities — were angry at the bait-and-switch . They refused to take their seats and were initially jailed for treason.

And now genocide.

The Pilot’s Phil Walzer reported Saturday that Hailemariam and his fellow detainees were hauled into an Ethiopian court last week and charged with both unfathomable crimes.

Of course, their only real crime is believing in democratic ideals like free and fair elections, freedom from oppression and impartial justice.

Along with pro-democracy leaders, Ethiopia’s government has also imprisoned five employees of the U.S. broadcasting service Voice of America, all of whom are said to be U.S. citizens. And thousands of young protesters have simply disappeared.

There’s not one whit of evidence, not one iota of possibility, not even a whisper of proof, that the courtly, civic-minded Hailemariam has ever been involved in, talked about or dreamed of genocide.

But if convicted in a kangaroo court, he’ll face the death penalty.

Meanwhile, he’ll be imprisoned for the foreseeable future on this most heinous of crimes just because the Ethiopian government says so.

For anyone who’s ever wondered what life is like under an authoritarian regime, the sheer arbitrariness of this episode provides an instructive answer.

The Ethiopian government seems to be taking absurd pleasure in thwarting the reported facts of its transgressions.

When the media complained in November that Hailemariam and his fellow detainees were imprisoned in solitary confinement and darkness, the government moved them to multi-prisoner cells equipped with incredibly bright lights, designed for sleep deprivation.

The State Department, whose Victrola is stuck on the refrain of democracy these days, is keeping conspicuously quiet about the very undemocratic goings-on in Ethiopia.

The World Bank, to its great credit, announced last week that donors intend to withhold $375 million from the Ethiopian government.

Our government should follow suit.

Last year, U.S. taxpayers gave Ethiopia $190 million in foreign aid, the 10th-largest recipient of U.S. assistance. Perhaps we should rethink our generosity.

New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, best known for his pro-life and pro-veteran stances, has introduced a bill to pressure Ethiopia to adopt genuine democratic reforms.

But to date, and despite Hailemariam’s family being her constituents, U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake hasn’t signed on. Nor has any other Hampton Roads congressman.

The Senate has no such bill. It’s high time for Sen. George Allen, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to introduce one, and for Sen. John Warner to join him.

The collective silence of Virginia’s elected officials on this matter is both shameful and deafening.

Nothing short of a neighbor’s life is on the line.

Bronwyn Lance Chester is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. Reach her at 757-446-2307 or e-mail her at bronwyn.chester@pilotonline.com.