AN URGENT APPEAL – From Mesfin Wolde-Mariam

The UN Human Rights Commission
The African Union Human Rights Commission
The International Red Cross
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
And
All Men and Women of GOOD WILL

Reeyot Alemu

Reeyot Alemu is a budding Ethiopian poet, essayist, and journalist. There are not many Ethiopians of her caliber inside the country. She has been languishing in the famous Ethiopian Prison in Qalliti for almost three years. She was charged of terrorism, a crime she totally abhors. She was sentenced first for eighteen years but later reduced to three.
With the exception of her mother and father, she is not allowed to communicate with anyone, including her sisters, brothers as well as her fiancée.
Reeyot, although constantly in agonizing pain and in need of help, is held in solitary confinement with a very old and sickly foreign woman who herself requires assistance.
Reeyot is suffering from some growth in her breasts. The prison authorities have been reluctant to take her to hospital for medical checkup, even when her parents were prepared to pay the bill. When she became seriously ill she was allowed to see a doctor as a result of which she was taken to the hospital and operated upon. But no sooner had the surgeon finished the operation than she was immediately taken back to prison even before she had fully recovered from the Anastasia.
She now suffers from a relapse on the operated breast and similar growth in her other breast. The prison authorities still demonstrate their reluctance to provide medical treatment even at the expense of her parents.
May God provide the necessary courage to all those institutions and organizations to cry out effectively for this young lady who is suffering at the hands of insensitive prison administration.