Ethiopia: Court drops terror plot charges against two Swedes

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

November 3, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – An Ethiopian court on Thursday dropped charges against two Swedish journalists accused of conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks.

However, the accused, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, still have two remaining charges to defend themselves against before they are released from prison.

After examining the case, the court decided that the evidence and witnesses brought by prosecutors was insufficient to convict them.

“Charge three, participating in a terrorist organisation, has been dropped,” Judge Shemsu Sirgaga ruled.

“They have to defend themselves against two charges: supporting a terrorist group and entering the country illegally,” he told the court.

If convicted the two journalists could face up to 15 years behind bars. The trial will resume on 6 December.

In July, the journalists illegally crossed into Ethiopia’s Somali Region from the neighbouring, semi-autonomous region of Puntland with armed members of an outlawed rebel group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).

The accused rejected witness claims that they came to Ethiopia to support and train ONLF rebels but they admitted to illegally entering the country.

They were arrested in a security operation that also led to killing of 20 ONLF fighters. They were then charged with professionally promoting terrorism, engaging in terrorist conducts, and entering the country illegally.

The Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi in an interview with Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, last month termed the two Swedes “not journalists but partners of terror organisations.”

Zenawi’s remarks led to condemnation from international human rights groups and media outlets.

Last month, press freedom watch dog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) accused Zenawi of prematurely calling the jailed Swedish journalists “accomplices of terrorists,” while their case was still in court. 

(ST)