As many other repressive regimes, the Ethiopian federal police have been using Cellebrite’s technology at the height of a civil war that caused tens of thousands of casualties and the prosecution of ‘unauthorized’ news outlets
The Ethiopian police, who according to reports, are responsible for mass detention of minorities and persecution of opposition forces and journalists, have purchased technology from the Israeli digital intelligence company Cellebrite to hack into the cellphones of detainees.
The Ethiopian federal police have been using Cellebrite’s systems since 2021, at the height of the civil war between the country’s prime minister’s forces and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Force.
As many other repressive regimes, the Ethiopian federal police have been using Cellebrite’s technology at the height of a civil war that caused tens of thousands of casualties and the prosecution of ‘unauthorized’ news outlets
The Ethiopian police, who according to reports, are responsible for mass detention of minorities and persecution of opposition forces and journalists, have purchased technology from the Israeli digital intelligence company Cellebrite to hack into the cellphones of detainees.
The Ethiopian federal police have been using Cellebrite’s systems since 2021, at the height of the civil war between the country’s prime minister’s forces and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Force.
The flagship product of Cellebrite – a public company traded on NASDAQ – is a technology called UFED, which is used by authorities to hack into seized phones which are password-protected. This in turn allows Cellebrite’s clients to download all the information stored on those devices, including media files and text messages, call histories, contacts and more.
In a letter sent by Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack to Israel’s Defense Ministry and Cellebrite, a number of human rights activists call for cessation of sales of the technology and support services to Ethiopia’s repressive regime.
The letter follows a harsh report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, that details how Ethiopia has committed crimes against humanity and war crimes during the last round of fighting.
The report states that since November 2020, security and civilian forces have been responsible for “extrajudicial executions, rape and other acts of sexual violence. The widespread pillage of crops and livestock, and the looting and occupation of Tigrayan homes, destroyed sources of livelihood. Tigrayans have faced mass arrests and prolonged arbitrary detentions in formal and informal detention sites where detainees were killed, tortured, and ill-treated.”
The fascist Oromo Regime of Abiy Ahmed – whom last week President Joe Biden welcomed to the White House – has committed crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Some 2.6 million people have been uprooted from their homes.
