Kaliti Prison

Location of Kaliti Prison within Addis Ababa

Location within Akaky Kaliti, one of the subcities of Addis Ababa

Kaliti Prison (also spelt Kality Prison, Kilinto Prison or Qilinto Prison) in Addis Ababa is one of the several federal prisons of Ethiopia. Commonly referred to as a gulag, it serves as the main prison of the country.^[2] It is 11 km south of central Addis Ababa, in Akaky Kaliti, the southernmost subcity of the nation's capital.^[3]

The original prison compound is a makeshift structure that was built after 1991 when the Derg regime fell and was not intended as a prison. Most of the structures built by 2004 had been built by prisoners by their own means and with help from NGOs.^[3]

Description

Part of the prison consists of sheet-metal shacks arranged in a dense maze.^[4]

Within the prison there are 8 zones (however zone 8 is not in use according to the recollection of Martin Schibbye). The group Zone 9 bloggers is named after a non-existent ninth zone.^[5]

Around 2012, the prison held approximately 8,000 inmates.^[1] A 2009 Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) report described overcrowding in the prison with hundreds of inmates being held in single, poorly ventilated cells. They reported that individuals were exposed to tuberculosis, fleas, lice, that there was a lack of sanitation, that water for drinking and washing was insufficient, that inmates had to sleep on cold, concrete floors, and that access to medical care was nearly absent. They also reported that "complaints against all these human rights violations being severely punishable".^[6] Personnel at the prison are known to have tortured inmates.^[7]

2016 fire

A fire broke out on 3 September 2016 and continued on until the next day. Prisoners attempted to escape during the chaos, and gunshots were heard. Two prisoners were claimed to have been killed trying to escape, while 21 other inmates were said to have perished from "stampede and suffocation". At least 23 people were killed in total.^[8] The fire comes during the deadly nationwide 2016 Ethiopian protests, and may be related.^[9]

Prisoners

Siye Abraha, a leader of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, stated he believed that around 99% of Kaliti's prisoners are Oromo.^[10]

Notable inmates

• Siye Abraha, a leader of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, spent six years at Kaliti and was released in 2007.^[10]
• Teddy Afro, aka Tewodros Kassahun, an Ethiopian singer^[11]
• Reeyot Alemu, Ethiopian journalist
• Andualem Aragie, Vice President and Press Secretary for the Unity for Democracy and Justice party
• Tesfahun Chemeda, Oromo rights advocate, died in Kaliti^[12]
• Temesgen Desalegn, Ethiopian journalist
• Serkalem Fasil, Ethiopian journalist
• Befeqadu Hailu, Ethiopian writer, activist, blogger, and member of the Zone 9 bloggers^[13]
• Birtukan Mideksa is an Ethiopian politician, former judge, founder and leader of Unity for Democracy and Justice, the opposition party. She was held in a cell measuring 2 x 3 metres that she shared with two others.^[4]
• Berhanu Nega, Economics professor and politician
• Eskinder Nega, Ethiopian journalist and blogger^[14]
• Martin Schibbye, a Swedish journalist who spent 438 days there with photographer Johan Persson^[15]
• Hailu Shawul, Ethiopian engineer and chairman of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy^[16]
• Woubshet Taye, Ethiopian journalist^[17][18]
• Asaminew Tsige, retired Brigadier-General in the Ethiopian Air Force^[19][20]
• Mesfin Woldemariam, Ethiopian academician and peace activist

Layout

• 

  Kaliti Prison
  A: Main entrance
  B: Administration, office
  C: Administration, office, warden's office, meeting place for close relatives and the embassy
  D: Monitored meeting rooms for lawyers and prisoners
  E: Injera bakery
  F: Workshop and vocational school
  G: High school
  H: Visiting area
  I: Soccer field
• 

  Zone 6
  1: Washing place for clothes
  2: WC
  3: Table for carambole under a roof
  4: Cement field
  5: WC
  6: Kiosk
  7: Café
  8: Mosque
  9: Orthodox church
  10: Workshop
  11: Tailor's shop
  12: Barber
  13: Protestant church
  14: Economic committee's office
  15: Kitchen
  16: Prisoner committee's administration
  17: Disciplinary committee's officer and punishment room
  18: Prisoner committee's room for speakers and music
  19: Prisoner committee's office for counseling
  20: Office for the zone police officers
  21: Library and classroom

See also

• Human rights in Ethiopia

References

External links

• Images of Kaliti Prison:
• The Kality Foundation, formed to offer financial help to reporters and photographers who are held in prison
• List of political prisoners at Kaliti
• Another list of political prisoners at Kaliti
• Censorship in Ethiopia - IFEX
• 2012 Annual Report, by Amnesty International
• Freedom in the World 2012 Report, by Freedom House
• World Report 2012, by Human Rights Watch
• Ethiopia after Meles: Democracy and Human Rights: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, June 20, 2013