Ethiopia releases jailed opposition leader on a second pardon
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
October 6, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Ethiopian government on Wednesday released an opposition leader who had been serving life in prison accused of violating a previous pardon agreement with government.
Birtukan Mideksa, a former judge and leader of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, was one among the dozens of opposition figures jailed in the aftermath of 2005 polls where post election violence, allegedly instigated by opposition leaders, left 193 street protesters and seven policemen killed.
In 2007, the Ethiopian government granted a mass pardon to the jailed opposition leaders who had been serving life sentence and were released after they signed a letter admitting to provoking the violence with an aim to overthrow the Meles Zenawi’s administration and his party the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
However, Birtukan was re-arrested in December 2008 and continued to serve her life sentence after she denied signing the pardon request at speech to her supporters in Europe.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Justice, the 36 year old opposition leader submitted a statement to the prime minister’s office earlier in September has requesting a second pardon on the grounds that she regretted what she did in the past.
Reuters reported:
“This may be part of a broader campaign to reorient the political system so that it at least appears to be more democratic,” David Shinn, a former US envoy to Ethiopia told Reuters.
“In fact, it might even become more democratic. Many of the original EPRDF leaders have moved or are moving to the sidelines. Meles has stated that he will not run for prime minister in 2015 and I believe he will not.”
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling EPRDF won 545 of the 547 seats in parliamentary in May’s elections.
Following the election, the US government and the New York based rights group, Human Rights Watch, declared that the vote failed to meet international standards, which led to a request by Ethiopia’s opposition parties for the election to be re-run.
(ST)