Mr. Speaker, my petition calls for the release of Ms. Birtukan Mideksa from arbitrary imprisonment. Ms. Mideksa is president of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party of Ethiopia and has been held by the government since December 2008 without charge for a politically motivated life sentence.
According to Amnesty International, she is a prisoner of conscience. She was pardoned of all charges against her before being arrested, again for no reason. She has had no formal hearings and has not been given access to her lawyer. Human rights organizations have been denied access to her. Also, her family contact has been limited. She has been held in solitary confinement in life-threatening conditions.
The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to pass private member's Motion No. 334, which requests that the government exert maximum pressure on Ethiopia to release Ms. Mideksa and allow her to fulfill her functions as a leader of a political party.