My client was a 62-year-old Ethiopian father of four. His first political activity was opposing the monarchy of Haille Sellasse. He opposed the feudalistic system. Later, he was imprisoned for five years for opposing the Marxist Dergue. After the Dergue was overthrown, he was involved in a series of political parties, seeking democratic rule in Ethiopia. He was imprisoned four times for political activism.
He was kept in overcrowded, filthy jails, becoming sick from drinking untreated river water, because that’s what was given to them. He was beaten to unconsciousness on one occasion. Each time on his release, he was warned not to continue his pro democracy activities. In 2006, he distributed fliers with the photos of imprisoned party leaders from the CUD, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, the Kinegit. He was arrested and taken to jail for this simple act.
He gave very detailed testimony of all of this. The wounds from his beatings were confirmed by a forensic examination from a volunteer physician at SW Medical School. At the trial I asked him, “Sir, you had been repeatedly warned not to participate and to stop your political activities. Why, despite those warnings, did you continue?”
With tears in his eyes he said, “For my children. There is a price for liberty. There is a cost for freedom, and that’s why I kept doing that.”
Every American should see this. It’s among the most inspiring things I know. The Judge granted asylum. I knelt in the parking lot of the Federal Courthouse, and without shame said a prayer of thanksgiving.
