Engineer Hailu Shawel Needs Urgent Medical Attention

Folks, read this petition (an Amharic version is available here), and sign it. You can also mail a copy to:

The Honorable Condoleeza Rice Secretary of State United States Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520

This is an urgent issue that requires your immediate attention. In its recently issued 2006 Country Report on Human Rights Practices (March 6, 2007) the U.S. Department of State listed a series of human rights violations in Ethiopia including poor prison conditions and "abuse, and mistreatment of detainees and opposition supporters by security forces."

The U.S. Department of State must be held accountable to its citizens, including to Americans of Ethiopian origin. The right to petition our government is a right guaranteed since the founding of this country and we should never hesitate to exercise it when the need arises. Petitioning the agency to pressure the government of Ethiopia--its primary regional ally in the Horn--to allow Engineer Hailu access to immediate and proper medical care is not a political demand. It is a purely human rights concern.