Charity workers on trial in Ethiopia claim mistreatment

Nov 6, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Two charity workers complained Monday of mistreatment while standing trial in Ethiopia for treason and attempted genocide along with 100 opposition leaders and journalists.

Daniel Bekele, of the U.K. aid organization ActionAid, and Netsanet Demissie, who heads a local Ethiopian rights group, said they had been “psychologically tormented,” because they had been deprived of sleep and prevented from seeing each other to prepare their case since Friday.

Prosecution witnesses began giving evidence against the charity workers on Monday, almost a year after the trial began.

“We have the right to a fair trial,” Bekele told a three-judge panel at a specially convened Federal High Court on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. “Defendants have to be treated fairly and shouldn’t be exposed to adverse measures.” The judges ordered that both receive better treatment.

Human rights organizations and Western governments have expressed concern over the trial, which stemmed from violent protests following disputed 2005 elections that returned the ruling party led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to power. His reputation has suffered following the demonstrations, during which Ethiopian security forces killed 193 protesters.

London-based human rights group Amnesty International has called the defendants “prisoners of conscience who haven’t used or advocated violence.”

In January, the U.K. withheld $87 million in aid to Ethiopia’s government because of concerns about the central government’s handling of the unrest. The money is to be redirected through humanitarian agencies or local officials.

(AP)