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BREAKING: Ethiopian Policemen Attack, Brutalise Nigerian Inmates Over SaharaReporters’ Stories, Others

FILE
October 4, 2023

This followed multiple reports over the plight of the inmates which the policemen tagged “international embarrassment to the government of Ethiopia”.

Some Nigerians detained in the Kaliti Prison, Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital city, have again been brutalised by the country’s policemen, SaharaReporters has gathered.

This followed multiple reports over the plight of the inmates which the policemen tagged “international embarrassment to the government of Ethiopia”.

According to some of them, the policemen accused them of giving fake reports about their inhumane treatment to “a newspaper, SaharaReporters and one Dr Paul Ezike.”

“It has been very brutal for some days now; Ethiopian police have been beaten us, Nigerian inmates, accusing us of embarrassing the country.

“This followed the reports we have been giving to SaharaReporters about the death of our people, video of Dr Ezike and even our embassy here. They claimed we have been embarrassing them internationally as we are not the only foreign nationals over here.

“Most of us are now with injuries without treatment. Sadly, the Nigerian government which ought to help us is the one defending them. The Federal Government of Nigeria should be held responsible if any of us dies again,” one of the inmates told SaharaReporters on Wednesday night.

Two Nigerians died in Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia in the last 6 months.

While Uchenna Nwanneneme died of an undisclosed ailment without treatment, another Nigerian, Chizoba Eze was said to have died in the same facility following alleged physical aggression.

Multiple sources had told SaharaReporters that Eze was brutalised by policemen in the facility, and that she died from the injuries inflicted on her.

It was also alleged that her corpse was left inside her cell for over 36 hours by the prison officials who allegedly prevented other inmates from informing the Nigerian embassy about the incident.

“Nigerian woman, Chizoba Favor Eze has been brutalised to death at Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia. She died on March 12, 2023. It’s so sad that the policemen killed our sister. They gave her internal injury on her chest after brutally hitting her on the breasts which led to her death,” a source in the facility had said.

“After a week, she started feeling sick because of the result of the internal injuries she had inside her body. They took her to the hospital for the first time to receive treatment and the doctor gave her an injection and they brought her back to her room.

“The deceased started feeling weak again and they took her to the hospital on Saturday, March 11, 2023, then they brought the same injection and the deceased complained bitterly that the injection was not good for her body. She added that she didn’t want to take any injections again, and they gave her the injection forcefully.

“On Sunday morning, she died. She died inside her room which made the other foreigners, such as Brazilian and Venezuelan women and others feel bad because the injection the deceased took led to her death.

“The foreigners went through the bag of the deceased and took the Nigerian embassy's telephone number in order to call the embassy because the deceased person’s body had been there with them in the room for over 36 hours.

“So the foreigners decided to call the embassy of Nigeria to tell them what was happening, but the policewomen did not allow them to call the embassy.”