Swedish journalists tell of Ethiopia prison ordeal, say terror trial was a ‘sham’
Sept 14, 2012, STOCKHOLM (AP) — Back home after being imprisoned in Ethiopia for more than a year, two Swedish journalists on Friday dismissed their trial on terror charges as a “sham,” saying they accepted 11-year prison terms to improve their chances of being released.
Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson also said in a news conference that their apology on Ethiopian TV in connection with their release last week was not sincere.
“At that time we were still prisoners, and it was part of the process” of being freed, Schibbye said. “I did not mean it.”
The two were arrested in the summer of 2011 while trying to cross from Somalia into Ethiopia’s Ogaden region along with fighters from the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front, which Ethiopia classifies as a terrorist group.
In December, the journalists were sentenced to 11 years each for abetting terrorism and entering the country illegally. They denied the terror charges, saying they were in Ethiopia simply to do their work as journalists.
“This is normal, traditional journalistic leg work,” Schibbye said. “We were sentenced in a sham process to 11 years in prison, and then had to sit in a prison camp for all these months.”
The Swedes said that a video used as evidence against them supposedly showing the raid in which they were arrested was actually recorded several days later and was staged by the Ethiopian army.
Schibbye also said that in the days following the arrest an interrogation leader threatened to kill him in the desert.
“He said ‘you will die here, we will shoot you here today if you don’t tell the truth,’” Schibbye said. “One soldier lifts his rifle and points it at me, then aims it to the side and shoots into the brush. Then the camera comes up and a new investigation begins.”
Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti called the journalists’ allegations “inaccurate” and “unacceptable.”
“They have been saying all along that they were being treated very well, they were even comparing the situation with other countries to say they were very ok and are better off here,” Mufti told The Associated Press.
The jailing of the journalists was condemned by rights watchdogs such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, which said their trial was “an affront to justice and press freedom.”
–Associate Press
Nice to hear that, but prisoners in ethiopia are not only those swedish journaalists, there are thousands of prisoners accounting 80-85 of them are oromos, so using this chance all oromo on the world has to sound to free oromo prisoners to the new transional government-during this manything may be get attention from rulling party- this is what happen everywhere in the world when there is political termoile in one country- please let’s use chance we got. let’s go oromo, epecailly initiating those who in back home- when i say that the hot oromo students at all level with their family has great role as usual!!
Although I like your comments, there is little flaws in it. the imprisoned oromos was estimated more accurately by Siye Abraha. Remember what he said “90% of the the cells in Ethiopia speak Afan Oromo”. I wish these innocent people freed and the final solution to the suffering of the Oromo is not only to free these people but to free the Oromo people from the domination of TPLF.
Iam hapy that these journalists are free.
During their detention the TPLF did all forms of restrictions not to encounter with Oromos forming 90percents of detainees.However,I believe that they have learned something to tell the World about the sufferings,torture, detention without trial and nonjudicial killings in Ethiopia.
Therefore ,Iam appealing to Oromian communities in Scandinivian,particularly those in Sweden to invite them and to hear from them about something they have learned concerning Oromians when in detention.