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Ethiopia jails blogger, reporters, opposition figures
Source: Reuters
Ethiopia jails blogger, reporters, opposition figures
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA | Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:59pm EDT
(Reuters) - Twenty Ethiopians, including a prominent blogger, journalists and opposition figures were jailed for between eight years to life on Friday on charges of conspiring with rebels to topple the government.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was "seriously concerned" by the severity of the sentences, which were also condemned by Amnesty International and other rights groups.
The Horn of Africa nation, a major recipient of Western aid, is fighting separatist rebel movements and armed groups it says are backed by arch-foe Eritrea.
But rights groups say Ethiopia, sandwiched between volatile Somalia and Sudan, regularly uses security concerns as an excuse to crack down on dissent and media freedoms.
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By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA | Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:59pm EDT
(Reuters) - Twenty Ethiopians, including a prominent blogger, journalists and opposition figures were jailed for between eight years to life on Friday on charges of conspiring with rebels to topple the government.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was "seriously concerned" by the severity of the sentences, which were also condemned by Amnesty International and other rights groups.
The Horn of Africa nation, a major recipient of Western aid, is fighting separatist rebel movements and armed groups it says are backed by arch-foe Eritrea.
But rights groups say Ethiopia, sandwiched between volatile Somalia and Sudan, regularly uses security concerns as an excuse to crack down on dissent and media freedoms.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/13/us-ethiopia-media-trial-idUSBRE86C0W920120713
