Described as an ‘Ethiopian Obama’ and a brilliant speaker and organizer, Birtukan Mideksa has become a symbol of democracy in her own country, compared with figures like Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi.” (Independent: 3 Feb 2009), writes journalist Daniel Howden. Birtukan the first woman leader of a major political party in Ethiopia, a former judge, a mother of a four year-old-daughter, a care giver of a 74 year-old mother, a woman of peace and justice that espoused non-violence and peaceful struggles has been placed in solitary confinement for more than 6 months and locked up in the notorious Kaliti prison.
As Newsweek Jonathan Tepperman reported, her “apparent crime is organizing a democratic challenge to the increasingly iron-fisted rule of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.”
As Birtukan Mideksa, a symbol of democracy and peaceful struggle, is taking on heavy burdens and psychological tortures, it is our moral duty and responsibility to speak out against injustice.
Therefore, to complement and re-enforce existing efforts, the Free Birtukan Mideksa and Other Political Prisoners Task Force has been established. The Free Birtukan Mideksa task Force is a grassroots organization of individuals who are deeply concerned and alarmed by the unjust and barbaric arrest of Ms Birtukan Mideksa by regime of Meles Zenawi. The organization has committed to work collectively for securing the unconditional release of Bertukan and other prisoners of conscious in Ethiopia.
Free Birtuakn Mideksa
