Editing Haile Selassie (section)

==== Execution and cover-up ====

On 27 August 1975, Selassie was murdered on the orders of the Derg regime, a fact that was to remain undiscovered for another twenty years. On 28 August 1975, state media reported that Selassie had died on 27 August of "respiratory failure" following complications from a prostate examination followed up by a prostate operation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Haile Selassie of Ethiopia Dies at 83|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0723.html|work=The New York Times|date=28 August 1975|access-date=21 July 2007|archive-date=25 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825184920/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0723.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Dr. [[Asrat Woldeyes]] denied that complications had occurred and rejected the government version of his death. The prostate operation in question apparently had taken place months before the state media claimed, and Selassie had apparently enjoyed strong health in his last days.<ref>{{harvnb|Asserate|p=348}}</ref>

In 1994, an Ethiopian court found several former military officers guilty of strangling the Emperor in his bed in 1975. Three years after the Derg regime was overthrown,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/15/world/ex-rulers-of-ethiopia-charged-with-strangling-haile-selassie.html|title=Ex-Rulers of Ethiopia Charged With Strangling Haile Selassie|agency=Reuters|work=The New York Times|date=15 December 1994|access-date=6 November 2018|language=en|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107104003/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/15/world/ex-rulers-of-ethiopia-charged-with-strangling-haile-selassie.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the court charged them with genocide and murder, claiming that it had obtained documents attesting to a high-level order from the military regime to assassinate Selassie for leading a "feudal regime".<ref name="wapo">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/15/ethiopian-court-hears-how-emperor-was-killed/af51020c-547c-4b9c-92df-52be6e2a2241/|title=Ethiopian Court Hears How Emperor Was Killed|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=6 November 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=31 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231103240/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/15/ethiopian-court-hears-how-emperor-was-killed/af51020c-547c-4b9c-92df-52be6e2a2241/|url-status=live}}</ref> Documents have been widely circulated online showing the Derg's final assassination order and bearing the military regime's seal and signature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ethioreference.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/By-Wibshet-Mulat-Amdetsion-Minilik.jpg|title="እንኳን ሰው ዝንብ አልገደልኩም!" ኮ/ል መንግሥቱ የ''60ዎቹ'' ባለስልጣናት ግድያ 43ኛ ዓመት መታሰቢያ|date=1 November 1974|website=Ethio Reference|access-date=6 November 2018|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107104040/http://www.ethioreference.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/By-Wibshet-Mulat-Amdetsion-Minilik.jpg|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://face2faceafrica.com/article/the-real-story-of-the-last-days-of-emperor-haile-selassie-of-ethiopia|title=The real story of the last days of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia|date=27 August 2018|work=Face2Face Africa|access-date=6 November 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107104142/https://face2faceafrica.com/article/the-real-story-of-the-last-days-of-emperor-haile-selassie-of-ethiopia|url-status=live}}</ref> The veracity of these documents has been corroborated by multiple former members of the Derg regime.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Misekerenet Bebaale Seltanatu Andebet|last=Riste|first=Tesfaye|year=2009|location=Addis Ababa, Ethiopia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Egnana Abiyotu|last=Wogderess|first=Fikre Selassie|publisher=Tsehay Publishers|year=2014|pages=211, 310}}</ref>[[File:Tomb of Emperor Haile Selassie (11320061113).jpg|alt=The tombs of Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen Asfaw|thumb|The tombs of Haile Selassie and Menen Asfaw inside the [[Holy Trinity Cathedral (Addis Ababa)|Holy Trinity Cathedral]] in Addis Ababa]]