ENA
31 July 2005
Addis Ababa — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman said Friday that Kelbessa Negewo has been ordered to be deported by a federal immigration judge to his home country.
Kelbessa Negewo is in the top list of the Special Prosecutor's Most Wanted Extraditables for committing numerous acts of torture during the infamous Red Terror in Ethiopia.
The Washington Times reported that U.S. Immigration Judge William A. Cassidy ruled that Kelbessa was responsible for arresting, torturing and killing perceived political opponents in Ethiopia during the 1970s as part of a military dictatorship led by Mengistu Haile-Mariam.
According to The Washington Times report monitored by ENA, the case is the first removal order obtained by ICE agents under the new authorities of the recently enacted Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.
Court records show that Kelbessa served as chairman of what was called the "Higher 9," one of several specialized units in Addis Ababa that employed a campaign of torture, arbitrary imprisonment and summary executions against perceived enemies of the government.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Sue Brown said Kelbessa came to the United States on a student visa in August 1987.
A year later, she said, he applied for and ultimately obtained immigration benefits in the U.S., where he later adjusted to a permanent resident and became a citizen.
Ms. Brown said an investigation by ICE agents into Kelbessa, who was living and working in the Atlanta area, began after several of his reputed torture victims who had relocated from Ethiopia to Atlanta encountered him in the city by chance.
The ICE investigation showed that Kelbessa made false statements about his past human rights violations to obtain his U.S. citizenship, which led to a revocation of it in October 2004.
Kelbessa was arrested under provisions of the Intelligence Reform Act in January and put in detention to await an immigration hearing, which took place Tuesday.
Judge Cassidy, after two days of testimony, denied all relief and ordered Kelbessa removed from the United States.
Ms. Brown said Kelbessa's removal is the latest accomplishment as part of the "No Safe Haven Programme," ICE's ongoing initiative to identify, apprehend, prosecute and remove human rights violators.
She said ICE attorneys are tracking and litigating more than 900 cases nationwide involving human rights violators from more than 85 countries.
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