Ethiopia releases EU lawyer after jail under harsh conditions

Oct 27, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — An Ethiopian lawyer working for the European Commission said Friday she was arrested while trying to flee the country with the help of EC colleagues and suffered harsh treatment during a week of interrogations in jail.

Yalemzewd Bekele, who has worked for the EC for two years, told The Associated Press that she has been charged with “inciting violence” for distributing an opposition party schedule of anti-government protest. She said she had suffered “mental torture” during her weeklong detention but no physical abuse.

“The investigation was so vigorous,” Yalemzewd said. “I was interrogated all night long. The condition of the cell was very poor. I was sleeping on the bare floor with no blankets.”

She said she suffered sleep deprivation and was not given food until the last day. She said police asked her her political affiliations.

Ethiopian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Yalemzewd’s case.

She said she was arrested with two EU diplomats and another Ethiopian as they neared the Ethiopian border with Kenya Oct 20. She said the diplomats — who were expelled by Ethiopia — were trying to help her out of the country because she had learned of her imminent arrest.

Amnesty International said Bekele was apparently arrested in relation with the distribution of an opposition schedule for nonviolent civil disobedience.

“The release of Ms. Bekele is very good news,” EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said in Brussels, and again protested the expulsion of two EU diplomats.

“These unfortunate events have damaged the relationship between the EU and Ethiopia. Wounds must be healed,” Michel said.

The European Union is one of Ethiopia’s largest donors, but its officials have been sharply critical of political developments in Ethiopia amid questions about top Ethiopian officials’ commitment to democracy.

Unrest broke out in Ethiopia following May 2005 parliamentary elections that gave Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front control of nearly two-thirds of parliament.

U.S. and European election observers said the vote was marred by irregularities.

More than 100 independent journalists, opposition leaders and aid workers were charged with treason and attempted genocide after the protests. Their trials, condemned by international human rights groups, continue. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than half of its 77 million people living on less than $1 a day.

(AP)