Bekele Gerba
Bekele Gerba is an Ethiopian politician and activist. He is a member of Oromo Federalist Congress which promotes political change by nonviolence. He was imprisoned from 2011 to 2015, 2015–2018 and again on 30 June 2020 following the Hachalu Hundessa riots.
Bekele and other imprisoned politicians started a hunger strike on 27 January 2021. The Federal High Court of Ethiopia ordered that he be taken to Landmark General Hospital, and repeated its order on 17 February., Bekele's medical condition was worsening.
Childhood and education
Bekele Gerba was born in 1961 in West Welega Zone. He attended primary school in Boji Dirmaji and high school in Gimbi. He obtained a bachelor of arts in foreign language and literature at Addis Ababa University. As a postgraduate, he studied the teaching of English as a foreign language at AAU.Teaching
Bekele taught English and Oromo at Adama Teachers' College. In 2005 he was fired for "supporting students' riot" in 2004. Bekele moved to Addis Ababa and continued teaching at private universities. In 2007 he was appointed as a lecturer in English by AAU.Politics and repression
In 2009, Bekele joined the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement, becoming a member of the executive committee and becoming head of OFDM's public relations team. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2010 Ethiopian general election.Imprisonment: 2011 – April 2015
On 27 August 2011, Bekele and Olbana Lelisa of Oromo People's Congress were arrested on suspicion of being members of the Oromo Liberation Front. An Amnesty International delegation had met both Bekele and Olbana in the preceding days. After the arrests, the delegation was deported from Ethiopia. Amnesty International interpreted the arrests as being motivated by the men's meeting with the delegation. Bekele was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. His sentence was reduced on appeal to three years, seven months. In 2012, while still in prison, Bekele became the First Deputy Chair of the Oromo Federalist Congress that was formed from a merger of the OFDM and the OPC.Bekele was released in April 2015. Bekele estimated that in the Ziway Prison where he spent part of his sentence, about 2000 of the prisoners were Oromo political prisoners.
Imprisonment: December 2015 – February 2018
Bekele was detained again, together with 21 others, mostly senior OFC members, on 23 December 2015. Bekele was charged with linked with the OLF. During his imprisonment, Bekele and other OFC prisoners held a hunger strike to protest against the conditions in the prison.Bekele was released on 13 February 2018, a day before journalist Eskinder Nega and Andualem Aragie of Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice were released, and after a wave of 6000 releases of political prisoners in early 2018. Bekele stated that most of the prisoners remaining in Ziway Prison were political prisoners.
Imprisonment: June 2020 – January 2022
Bekele Gerba was detained on 30 June 2020 together with Jawar Mohammed and 33 others following the 29 June Hachalu Hundessa riots. Senior federal police officers accused the detained of planning to assassinate government officials, after an Oromia Region special forces officer had been killed on 22 June. Bekele and Jawar were brought to court for a hearing on 2 July.On 27 January 2021, Bekele, Jawar and other political prisoners started a hunger strike while still in prison. On 16 February 2021, the Ethiopian Federal High Court ordered Bekele and the other hunger strikers be treated at Landmark General Hospital. The prisoners were taken instead to the military Torhayloch Hospital, on the orders of "an unspecified higher official". At Torhayloch Hospital, Bekele refused to be treated, "fearing for his life". He was returned to the prison. On 17 February, Bekele's medical condition was worsening. The Federal High Court confirmed its order for Bekele to be taken to Landmark Hospital.
In Ethiopian Christmas of 7 January 2022, Bekele was released.