Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye were on Thursday acquitted in an Ethiopian court of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, but still face charges of supporting the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which Ethiopia deems a terrorist organization, and of entering the country illegally, news reports said. The reporter pair had already admitted to entering the country illegally, but said they were only in Ethiopia to do their jobs.
The Swedish journalists are scheduled to present their defence in court on 6 December, but observers are concerned that they may not receive a fair trial. In October, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that Persson and Schibbye were not journalists, but “messengers of a terrorist organization”.
The two journalists were captured in July along with armed ONLF members with whom they were travelling some 90km inside the Ethiopian border. It is difficult for journalists to obtain permits to visit the Ogaden region, where human rights violations against the ethnic Somali population have been reported, and observers believe that the charges against Persson and Schibbye constitute an attempt to prevent international coverage of human rights abuses.
Ethiopia has a history of jailing reporters and critics on anti-state charges. Currently, Ethiopian journalists Wubshet Taye, Reyot Alemu, Eskinder Nega and Sileshi Hagos, who were all detained in the past few months, are also scheduled to defend themselves against accusations of terrorism.
“Reporting on a terrorist group is not the same thing as being a terrorist,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills. “Criticising the government is not the same thing as being a terrorist. The Ethiopian authorities should immediately release all journalists imprisoned because of their work.”
A recent anti-terror law passed in Ethiopia provides, amongst other things, sentences of up to 20 years in prison for those accused of publishing anything that ‘supports’ or ‘encourages’ terrorism.