Ethiopia jails two Swedish journalists for aiding rebels

ADDIS ABABA - REUTERS

A combination of two recent handout picture shows (at L) Swedish journalist Johan Persson and at (R) Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye. An Ethiopian court on December 27, 2011 sentenced two Swedish journalists to 11 years in jail for supporting terrorism and entering the country illegally. AFP Photo

An Ethiopian court sentenced two Swedish journalists on Tuesday to 11 years in prison for helping and promoting the outlawed Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebel group and entering the country illegally.
 
Last week's guilty verdicts had provoked anger in Swedish media and accusations the case had taken on a political dimension.
 
Reporter Martin Schibbye and photographer Johan Persson were arrested in July after they entered the Ogaden province from Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region with ONLF fighters.
 
"The court has sentenced both defendants to 11 years. We have heard both cases ... and we believe this is an appropriate sentence," Judge Shemsu Sirgaga told the court.
 
Shemsu said the convictions warranted a sentence of up to 14 and a half years, but noted the freelance journalists' good behaviour. The prosecution had asked for 18 and a half years.
 
"It wasn't an entirely unexpected sentence. It is regrettable in light of their journalistic asssignment," Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman Anders Jorle said. "The Swedish government's view is known, among other things through the prime minister's statement last week."
 
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said last week Sweden was seriously concerned about the judgment and the journalists should be freed as soon as possible.
 
The two Swedes had also been charged with terrorism but were acquitted in November on that count, as the court did not believe they were involved in carrying out any attacks. They did admit to crossing the border without a permit.
 
Schibbye and Persson both looked at the judge without expression as the sentence was read out and then translated by their lawyer. No family members were present.
 
One of the journalists' lawyers said his clients were weighing the option of an appeal, but that for now there was no talk of pleading for clemency.
 
"We are only talking about the possibility of appealing for the time being, which follows judicial procedure," defence lawyer Sileshi Ketsela told Reuters.
 
Strained Relations

Schibbye and Petersson's Swedish lawyer told Sweden's SVT television channel that the pair were innocent reporters doing their job in a "closed area" and denounced the sentence as "completely unacceptable".
 
"This is judgement that represents a threat against foreign correspondents, against journalists who are trying to do their job," Thomas Olsson told the public channel in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
 
This year, Ethiopia has detained more than 150 people, including reporters, in a crackdown the opposition says is designed to stifle moves towards more democracy. The government vehemently denies such accusations.
 
Diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Sweden have become increasingly strained in the last couple of years, analysts say.
 
Ethiopia's opposition leader Birtukan Mideska, who was convicted of treason after violence broke out following a presidential poll in 2005 and then pardonned, was thrown back in prison in 2008 after flying to Stockholm and publicly disputing Addis Ababa's version of the pardon.
 
Birtukan was released in 2010, four months after presidential elections, and is now in the United States.
 
"The authorities in Addis Ababa seemed to have been rankled with the perceived backing of Ethiopia's opposition by Stockholm," A Western diplomat, who declined to be named, said.
 
Sweden has also been critical of Ethiopia's human rights track record. Addis Ababa said in 2010 it planned to shut its mission in Stockholm as there was no significant development cooperation or trade ties between the two countries.

A spokesman for Ethiopia's justice ministry said claims the trial had been politicised were unfounded.
 
"How can there be a political motive when prosecutors provided evidence throughout the trial and the defendants themselves admitted to entering the country illegally with rebels?" spokesman Desalegn Deressa told Reuters.