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Excerpted from ' EPLF AN INSIDE STORY HALEWA SEWRA'

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Source excerpt: The most criminal and notorious organ within the EPLF is known as 'Halewa Sewra or the security department.

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Prison, detention and disappearance · History, conflict and political movements

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Excerpted from ' EPLF AN INSIDE STORY

HALEWA SEWRA'

The most criminal and notorious organ within the EPLF is known as 'Halewa Sewra or the security department. This is the Gestapo section in the EPLF assigned with the task of arresting, torturing and killing elements who oppose the leadership clique or Essayas. It is a brigade of terror and death led by two members of the central committee. ('I was one', according to the March issue 81) The department which has no clear-cut guidelines save the carte blanch to kill, is into three sections.

The Surveillance Section: This body is responsible for covering the whole EPLF with a network of agents reporting on each other. EPLF is an orgnization in which every member takes the other for an agent and therefore has to keep his mouth shut. I can only say that the situation inside the group defies any description in words. The majority of the security agents are somehow attached to the leadership clique. The Interrogation Section of 'Halewa Sewra' is a place where all types of untold brutalities recommitted against suspects. Any person accused of opposing the leadership or the EPLF in general is scaled with boiling oil; refused food or water for a long period and forced to sleep over his/her refuse. The fascistic crimes perpetrated against the innocent victims do really drive one mad.; I cannot imagine that Hitler's concentration camps and crematoria were any worse scene than what goes on in the interrogation section of EPLF's security department. The majority of the suspects die while undergoing 'questioning'. Those who conduct the interrogations are blood-thirsty criminals like former members of Haile Selassie's commando units in Eritrea. One of these notorious killers is a certain Musse Abate, a former corrupt feudal 'naib' from the Semhar region.

The Prison Section: This is the section which physically liquidates 'enemies' of the EPLF or demoralizes the victims. The prison inmates are not only refused the basic food and medical needs, but are daily subjected to terrorization and self-defacement. Practically none of the survivors of the continued mental and physical torture in the prison can be described as 'survivors'. The firing squads are also stationed in the prison; their assignment is not to kill by firing bullets: but by strangulating victims, usually with knives and daggers.

In general, the security department killed no less than 3,000 persons during the pest seven years. The inside story of the EPLF prison was recently well told outside Eritrea by Mogos Fassil, its five-year inmate, who miraculously escaped to safety. Another living witness of the inhumane tortures is Teclai Ghebre-Selassie.

The fascistic crimes of the EPLF are not limited to its rank and file. Other victims include innocent individuals who oppose the fascistic practices of the organization and boldly expose it among the masses. For instance, the EPLF in 1978 killed 16 pensioners from Keren by slitting their throats by knives and daggers. Their only 'crimes' were that they went to Asmara to draw their pension money. The famous folklore singer, Echet Hina of Keren, was also killed in e brutal manner when he refused to sing in praise of the EPLF. Hundreds of peasants were also killed under the frame-up crimes of entering 'enemy' occupied towns.

It was when I served as the secretary of the security department that I hated being a member of such a fascist organisation.

Despite Mussa Naib is not inoccent from crimes , he was a member of the Constitutional Commission which was established in 1994. The question could be arised here why the Constitutional Commission allowed for Mussa who has history of crime to work with them.

Name of some members of the Constitutional Commission of Eritrea:

Dr. Berket, the Chairman, Azien Yassin , Vice Chairman Zemehret Yohannes ,the Secretary of the Commission. Dr. Amare Tekle Mr. Idris Gelawdios Mr. Musa Naib Ms. Zahra Jaber Mr. Paulos Tesfagiorgis Ms. Amna Naib, Source DR. BEREKET'S INTEGRITY AND CREDIBILTY ON LINE

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  1. halw.htm

    http://www.ehrea.org/halw.htm

    Preserved local original · source record 5f20138eb813436ad152f927

    SHA-256: 71a24c2ee604e606cf31bef6ef51cc826e8810356b789e1f180d1664bda7a5c4

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Alternate titles: halw.htm · Excerpted from ' EPLF AN INSIDE STORY HALEWA SEWRA'

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