blogging and writing and to be cooperative with the authorities. The Victim and
other bloggers stopped writing after that incident.
7. The Complainant submits that the phone of the Victim was tapped for at least
eleven (11) months from May 2013 and April 2014. The Victim saw transcripts of
his phone conversations presented as documentary evidence during his trial in
Court with respect to the charges referred to in paragraph 14 hereof.
8. The Complainant submits that the Victim and other "Zone 9" bloggers were
arrested on 25 April 2014, three days after they have announced that they were
about to resume writing on their blog. The Victim was arrested by the agents of
the National Intelligence and Security Service. They detained him at his office until
dusk, where they showed him a piece of paper which they introduced as a warrant
of arrest, although they did not allow him to read it.
9. The Complainant submits that the Victim was later taken to his house at dusk, and
the said agents searched his house without a search warrant. They seized a number
of properties of the Victim, such as books, copies of newspapers, music CDs, his
personal computer and other properties. After the search and seizure, he was
driven by 4 agents to Addis Ababa while being mocked and insulted on the way.
10. The Complainant submits that when the Victim and the said 4 agents arrived in
Addis Ababa, he was blindfolded and forced to lie on the floor of the car. The
Victim was taken to the Federal Police Crime Investigation Centre, also known as
Ma' ekelawi prison.
11. The Complainant submits that the Victim was held incommunicado and subjected
to torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment from 25 April 2014 to 11 July 2014, for a total of 85 days. The Victim
was subjected to physical pain during regular interrogations and he was kept in a
cold, over-crowded and completely dark cell.
12. The Complainant submits that the interrogators wanted to solicit information from
him such as access codes to his social media accounts, email and electronics
accounts or about different facts associated with the work, travel, and
communications of the "Zone 9" bloggers. His interrogators also wanted to extract
confessions from him and forced him to sign a number of confessions on several
occasions. He was also forced to do law school assignments for one of his
interrogators. They inflicted greater ill-treatment whenever he refused to comply
with their commands.