News
Ethiopian court convicts 2 Swedes of terrorism
Shemsu said that “journalism demands impartiality and balance but doesn’t require violating the laws of a sovereign country.”
“The court finds the defendants guilty as charged in a unanimous vote,” he said.
The Swedes’ lawyers, their family and the Swedish ambassador to Ethiopia left the court without making any comments. In Sweden, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said the Swedish government will immediately contact high-level officials in the Ethiopian government.
“Our starting point is and remains that they have been in the country on a journalistic mission. They should be freed as soon as possible to be able to reunite with their families in Sweden,” Reinfeldt said.
Bildt, the country’s foreign minister, said on Twitter that Sweden expresses “grave concern” over the verdict.
“We will continue to work to set them free,” he said.
Persson and Schibbye have acknowledged that they entered Ethiopia illegally.
“Your honor, I am a journalist and my job is to gather news. I am guilty of entering Ethiopia illegally, but I am not guilty of the other activities I am charged of,” Schibbye said during the case’s preliminary hearing in October.
“I entered the country illegally and nothing else,” Persson added.
The international community has closely followed the terror trial against the Swedes. Rights groups and diplomats say Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism proclamation restricts freedom of expression and is used as a tool to crack down on dissent.
The rights group Amnesty International said after the verdict that there was no evidence to suggest that the two Swedes were doing anything but carrying out work as reporters.
“We believe that these men are prisoners of conscience, prosecuted because of their legitimate work,” said Claire Beston, Amnesty International’s Ethiopia researcher. “The overly broad provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation allow the authorities to criminalize the exercise of freedom of expression.”
Copyright 2011. The Associated Press
