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December 23,2016
The regime recently released about 4000 prisoners who were jailed under the state of emergency legislation. During the detention, prisoners were subjected to indoctrination.
What was the indoctrination about? Voice of America Amharic service interviewed Befkadu Hailu- who is one of the zone nine bloggers and who is one of the thousands of prisoners released this last week – to get a sense of what it was like. It seems, the content is based on politics and history.
From the interview, the authorities in Ethiopia seem to think that the recent popular uprising is not fair given,to their mind, what Ethiopia has achieved. It is to be recalled that during the protest the government admitted that it has failed the people. Now the rhetoric seem to be changed and the regime is speaking in assertive terms rather than plea which is what it was during the protest.
Released prisoners were made to wear white t-shirts with the message “never again” written on the t-shit in Amharic and Oromiffa language. Many Ethiopians understood it as a dehumanizing practice and condemned it. Many are struggling with the feeling that Ethiopia is under a government whose practice and level of hate is comparable to fascist Italy.