Ethiopian Review

By ANITA POWELL | Yahoo! News

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The Ethiopian government must release the names and whereabouts of 35 people being held in a secret location after they were arrested last month over an alleged coup plot, a human rights group said.

Amnesty International said late Tuesday the suspects’ families have not been informed of their whereabouts.

Ethiopian officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

“Several may have been detained solely for their family ties to men who have expressed political opposition to the government,” said Michelle Kagari, deputy director of Amnesty’s Africa program. “They should be released immediately. Any others should be charged with a recognizable criminal offense or released.”

In April, Ethiopia said the suspects were found with weapons, plans and information that linked them to a prominent opposition group started after the country’s disputed 2005 elections. Ethiopia has acknowledged that its security forces killed 193 civilians protesting alleged election fraud that year.

Amnesty said that one of the suspects, Geta Worku, is the cousin of former opposition leader Berhanu Nega, the man Ethiopian officials originally accused of plotting the overthrow from a U.S.-based opposition group. Berhanu, who now lives in the U.S. and teaches economics at Bucknell University in Lewisberg, Pa., has denied any involvement.

Government officials said the group named itself “May 15″ after the date of the disputed election. Berhanu was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005 but was arrested afterward along with more than 100 other opposition politicians and stood trial for treason. He and the others were freed in 2007 in a pardon deal.