Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today.
The first is regarding the human rights situation in Ethiopia. Bertukan Mideksa was put in prison by the Ethiopian authorities at Christmastime under trumped up charges. She has remained in solitary confinement and has essentially been denied her freedom to act as leader of the opposition in Ethiopia.
The petitioners, who range from across British Columbia, ask Parliament and the government to put pressure on the Ethiopian government to ensure that she is unconditionally released, and that she continues to be able to exercise her function as leader of the major opposition party in Ethiopia.