RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE In June, the Supreme Court held that although the Family Law does not provide for marriage of same-sex couples, it does not preclude recognition of same-sex marriages registered in other countries. The decision involved an Estonian-US lesbian couple initially forced to leave Estonia after the authorities had refused to provide one of the partners with a residence permit. ETHIOPIA Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Head of state: Mulatu Teshome Wirtu Head of government: Hailemariam Desalegn The government lifted the state of emergency in June. In August protests resumed in Oromia against income tax increases and calling for the release of Beqele Gerba, Merera Gudina and other political prisoners. In February, 10,000 people who had been arbitrarily detained were released. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials and violations of the rights to freedom of expression and of association continued. BACKGROUND The authorities failed to implement the reforms they had promised to address grievances raised during protests in 2015 and 2016 in Amhara and Oromia. The demonstrators had been protesting against the forced eviction of farmers from their lands in Oromia in the past 20 years; arbitrary arrests and detention of opposition political party leaders; and severe restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and of association. Instead, the government declared a state of emergency in October 2016 after mobs torched farms and businesses in Oromia and Amhara following a stampede during the Oromo Thanksgiving Ceremony (Irrecha) in which at least 55 people were killed. The Ethiopian authorities have yet to conduct an independent and 162 credible investigation into the cause and scale of the deaths. TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Reports of torture and other ill-treatment of people accused of terrorism persisted. Detainees repeatedly complained to the courts that police tortured and ill-treated them during interrogations. Although, in some cases, judges ordered the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to investigate the allegations, the investigations did not adhere to international human rights standards. Angaw Tegeny and Agbaw Seteny were tried under the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP) along with 35 others, in connection with a fire at Qilinto prison on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. The two men complained that the police suspended a water bottle from their scrotums and flogged them on the soles of their feet. However, an EHRC report to the Federal High Court did not refer to their torture complaints. ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS Arbitrary detention continued under the state of emergency declaration which was lifted in June. On 2 February, the government ordered the release of 10,000 of the 26,000 people arbitrarily detained and arrested, under the declaration, in 2016. Hundreds of people were detained under the ATP, which includes overly broad and vague definitions of terrorist acts punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment. Detainees were held in excess of four months, the maximum period allowed under the law for pre-trial detention. Seven Oromo artists, for example, were detained for more than six months when the prosecutor finally charged them on 29 June. UNFAIR TRIALS Hundreds of political activists, dissenters and peaceful protesters faced unfair trials on charges brought under the ATP law. The trials were marked by prolonged pre-trial detention, undue delays and persistent complaints of torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty International Report 2017/18