Thread by @GebremeskelGeb

1/n

THREAD: 🛑the untold agony🛑

A heart-wrenching💔💔💔 testimony from a Mekelle based #Tigrayan journalist!

A journalist who was abducted & tortured by the Ethiopian troops [some soldiers were even vowing to murder him] in February 2021 shares his agony with the world.
@hrw

2/n

Fitsum Berhane is a #Tigrayan journalist who was abducted from his home in Mekelle & tortured by the Ethiopian troops last year only because he served as a translator for the int'l media during their visit to the sites of the most horrendous massacres ever.
@LaetitiaBader

3/n

His today's post on Facebook is very painful.

Here is an English translation:

<< Have you ever encountered?

When your former teacher pleads with you for a help saying "I could not get anything to feed my children" ... and when you are not able to do anything, ...>>

4/n

<< ... have you ever been in such a situation?>>

<<Have you ever seen a medical doctor falling due to starvation while treating patients at a hospital?>>

@BradSherman @JacksonLeeTX18 @RepKarenBass @RepMcCaul @JosepBorrellF @mukeshkapila @wdavison10 @RAbdiAnalyst

5/n

<<In every street you pass through, with each step you walk, hearing children saying "I am hungry" and for this to become a common day to day experience, have you ever encountered such a situation?>>
@AsstSecStateAF @USAmbUN @CoolFMNigeria @katie_polglase @ZekuZelalem

6/n

<<Have you ever taken it as a common thing your friend saying, "I have not eaten since yesterday"?>>

#StopTigraySiege
#StopTigrayFamine

@LABailey @rcoreyb @daddyhope @timnitGebru @HelenClarkNZ @JamesDuddridge @NadaNashif @zittokabwe

7/n

<<What do you feel when you see such a situation and you know that you are not able to do anything?>>

@unicefchief @UNICEF @WHO @ICRC @WFP @MSF @UNOCHA @amnesty @ifrc @SweinEthiopia @AnnLinde @MalinBjork_EU @JBorgstam @NorwayUN @UKUN_NewYork @UNReliefChief @AmbMKimani

8/n

Journalist Fitsum Berhane risked his life to work with foreign media last year when they entered #Tigray in February 2021 for the first time after the genocidal war had been declared on #Tigray in November 2021.

@AndrewWJHarding @berhe_lucy @nimaelbagir @declanwalsh

9/n

<<On February 27, soldiers arrested 2 translators—Fitsum Berhane, working with an Agence France-Presse news crew and Alula Akalu, working with the Financial Times ... >>
@MarksSimon @GianlucaMezzo
cpj.org/2021/03/ethiop…

10/n

<<Fitsum and Alula are being held at a military college near Mekelle University, their families told AFP. Relatives have not been able to see them and no explanation has been given for the arrests.>>

aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/2/…

11/n

<<Fitsum Berhane was arrested at his home in the regional capital Mekelle on Friday [February 2021] after working for an AFP team for three days, the agency said in a statement.>>

reuters.com/article/us-eth…