| Alem Bekagn Iron Sheeting | |
|---|---|
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Origin |
Alem Bekagn Prison |
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Type |
Iron Sheeting |
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Effects |
Captures nationalists and revolutionaries in complete isolation from rescue |
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Downsides |
Slowly kills captives |
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Activation |
Installation / Passage ? |
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Section |
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| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Alem Bekagn, or 'Kerchele Prison', was a central prison in Ethiopia until 2004. Located in Addis Ababa, the prison became notorious after the Second Italo-Ethiopian War as the site where Ethiopian intellectuals were detained and killed by Italian Fascists in the Yekatit 12 massacre. After the restoration of Emperor Haile Selassie, the prison remained in use to house Eritrean nationalists and those involved in the Woyane rebellion. Under the Communist Derg regime that followed, the prison was the site of another mass killing, the Massacre of the Sixty (including the royal family and imperial government) and of the torture and execution of rival groups in the Red Terror. As many as 10,000 were killed on the site, while overcrowding and unsanitary conditions led to the deaths of more through typhus. The prison remained a site of human rights abuses until the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front entered Addis Ababa on 28 May 1991, after which it became a normal prison. The prison was closed in 2004 and demolished in 2007 to allow the construction of the headquarters of the African Union.
Alem Bekagn was constructed along panopticon principles, with 57 cells – each designed for 10 to 20 prisoners – arranged in two tiers around an octagonal courtyard. As the prison population swelled into the thousands, additional huts were constructed around the outside. The prison held both men and women, with the two divided by corrugated iron sheeting. Its widely used title of Alem Bekagn, variously translated as "farewell to the world", "end of the world" or "I have given up on the world", likely came about as a result of its courtyard structure, which blocked out everything but the sky.
When the Organisation of African Unity was founded in 1963, its headquarters were located next door to Alem Bekagn. The inner courtyard was visible from the windows of the OAU headquarters, but due to the OAU's policy of non-interventionism, the organization never condemned the torture and killings and would return escapees who claimed refuge in the building. The killings included the execution of 60 ministers under the Derg regime, who were lined up against a wall in full view of the OAU building.
Effects[]
Is able to capture anyone considered a nationalist or revolutionary, regardless of the party or form of government they are related to. Attaches to supporters and opponents with equal measures. Supposedly encases one in a small cell-like container they cannot peer out of besides the sky above, being totally cut off from the outside. Kills captives by slowly depriving them of food, medical treatment and the very will to survive.