Solidarity Commitee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners
SOCEPP
Postfach 411305, 12123 Berlin, Germany
SOCEPP-USA P.O.Box 28605, Oakdale, MN 55128, USA
SOCEPP-Canada, P.O. Box 413, Station E, Toronto, Ontario,
M6H 4E3
e mail: Socepp@aol.com
October 6,1999
USINS
Northern Service Center,
100 Centennial Mail North,Room, B-26,
Lincoln, NE 68508
Dear Sir,
Please accept our respectful greetings.
SOCEPP is a human rights organization established four years ago to focus onthe plight of political prisoners and the violations of basic rights in Ethiopia by the government and other armed forces. It is not political, partisan or sectarian.
SOCEPP is now addressing this letter to your attention to call upon the USgovernment to reject the asylum application of HASSAN ALI, the former deputy president of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia, a top leader of the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), and a member of the leadership of the ruling EPRDF
Hassan Ali, who has reportedly asked for asylum in Minnesota, is personally held responsible not merely for publicly uttering incendiary hate statements against the Amaras but mainly for the massacre of hundreds of people from the Amara ethnic group. Proof of his guilt abound and there are many witnesses who can testify that Hassan Ali spearheaded the ethnic killings and other atrocities committed by OPDO militants and other EPRDF contingents. Hassan Ali is, in other words, a wanted criminal and should be investigated and tried in a proper court of law. SOCEPP believes that it would not be fair to grant him asylum rights. If more information is needed on Hassan Ali, SOCEPP is ready and willing to provide this for your examination.
thanking you,
Ezra Natnael
SOCEPP
Berlin.
