Saturday 17 January 2015

The late Mufti: On the plight of the family of Ras Tessema in the 50s


The note that Mufti Ibrahim Al Mukhtar wrote in the 1950s on plight of the family of the Ras Asberom Tessema

Ras Asberom Tessema was a prominent national figure who played an important role in the self-determination period in Eritrea. He was the leader of the "Liberal Progressive Party”  that was founded in 1947, and his party was an ally of the Muslim League, and was also part of the Independence Bloc, calling for the independence of Eritrea. The Mufti describes him as one the famous men in the country, who earned great respect among the people, especially among the Christians and one of the leaders who called for independence.  As the other Independence national leaders, he, his family and his close associates was subjected to hardship; the worst of which was the arrest of his sons and other members of his family. Some of them lost their jobs without any legal grounds. All this was because they supported the independence of Eritrea. The following sheds light on the plight of the family.
-       On Saturday, October 24th, 1953 at ten o'clock pm, police arrested two people on charges of attempting to assassinate the Chief Executive, Tedla Bairu, while he was on his way to Cinema Odion. The accused were Iyassu, the son of Ras Tessema, who was a government employee and Michael Wella who was a janitor at the Federal High Court and was dismissed from his job. The government claimed that they found two hand grenades and a pistol with Iyassu and a hand grenade with Michael.

-  The official newspapers printed the above news on its front pages and praised Major ‘Sium’ who foiled the ‘assassination plot’ and who led to the arrest of the assassins. The media also published messages sent to the Chief Executive congratulating him on his safety and the arrest of the perpetrators.

 -       Following the arrest of the two persons, the police arrested the relatives of the ‘Iyassu Ras Tessema and they were his brothers, Atzmach Gebre Kidan Tessema and Deje Atzmach Abraha Tessema , and his son Grazemach Asberom Abraha Tessema. The Police searched their homes.

-       Atzmach Gebre Kidan Tessema was a member of Parliament and enjoyed parliamentary immunity. His arrest was a violation of Article 54 of the Eritrean Constitution. The arrest was justified by the claim that it was on the permission from the Assembly President, Ali Raday. The President of the Assembly later tried to lift the parliamentary immunity of Gebre Kidan and tried to get it approved from the Parliament. The majority of the members of the Assembly voted against the request of President of the Assembly, and considered the arrest of MP Gebre Kidan illegal.

-       The Chief Executive afterwards sent a letter to the Assembly and requested it to reconsider its former decision not to lift the Parliamentary immunity of Gebre Kidan, referring to "the public security interest" clause as stated in Article 20 and citing  Declaration No. 104 of 1952. Based on the request, and through loyalists of the Unionist Party members, the majority of the Assembly Representatives voted on the 29th of October, 1953 in favour of approving the request of the Chief Executive and thus all the children of Ras Tessema were put in prison.

-       Since that date the relatives of Ras Tessema were dismissed from their jobs and those affected included Ras Tessema, Djetzmatch Berhe and his son Gebre Kidan and his grand son, Gratzmatch Asberom Abraha Tessema and son-in-law Djetzmatch Geberezghi. The Mufti indicated that this move was to punish them for their position in support of independence.

-       The family of Ras Asberom Tessema filed a case against the Eritrean Government stating that the arrest of their family members was illegal and won the case. The judges that looked at the case that were two British, one Italian and another by the name of Meles Girma who ruled on 21 December, 1953 that the measures of the arrest were illegal. The three arrested family members were released after 57 days in prison. The official newspapers did not carry the news of the release although it had covered their arrest in the front pages.

-   On February 2, 1954,the Regional Court of Asmara sentenced Iyassu Tessema to ten
    years in prison claiming that he was carrying a pistol and grenades. The second
    person accused was declared innocent for collaborating with the Police in foiling the
    assassination attempt.

-        On April 17, 1954 the  Supreme Court, headed by Mr Shearer and the membership of Mr Bruna issued a ruling invalidating the regional court ruling in Asmara and declared Iyassu Tessema innocent of the charges filed against him. Immediately after the issuance of this rule, Iyassu was released from prison after 5 months and 23 days. The Mufti indicated in comments on the ruling that it was sheer luck that those who presided over the Court were qualified foreign judges and stated that the charges were for retaliation purposes. Otherwise, the accusers could have been the judges and could have declared the innocent as guilty.

-       Sources close of the Supreme Court during that period indicated that the Chief Executive wrote a strong letter to Mr. Shearer that the judges are not complying to the traditions of the country and asked them to resign but the judge responded stating that they ruled according to the law.

-       The sons of Ras Tessema afterwards filed a case against the Eritrean Government demanding compensation for the damage to their reputation due to the false accusations and for compensation of the financial loss incurred.

The original report can be accessed here: (Translation from Arabic to English, mine)




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