By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced Friday that 38 of his country’s top opposition leaders were being released from prison after being convicted on sedition charges in a trial that critics labeled a sham and that sparked an international outcry.
At a news conference, Meles said the prisoners would be pardoned. He said their letter to the government requesting a pardon was equivalent to them taking some responsibility for violent protests that followed the country’s 2005 elections.
“I hope this conveys the message that people are given a second chance as long as they seek it,” the prime minister said.
Moments later, three minibuses left Kaliti Prison with the newly freed on board, the Associated Press reported. Dozens of family members and supporters outside the facility shouted in joy and whistled. Some of the politicians in the buses made the victory sign, which is also the symbol of Ethiopia’s opposition.
The prisoners were among an estimated 30,000 people arrested in a widespread crackdown on opposition supporters following Ethiopia’s 2005 elections, when the opposition made major gains despite accusations that the vote was flawed.
Most of those arrested were quickly released but the top leadership of the country’s main opposition party, along with journalists, an elderly professor and the Addis Ababa mayor remained jailed.
While Meles accused the opposition leaders of inciting violent protests following the elections, a government report later found that the protesters were unarmed and that Ethiopian security authorities had used excessive force, spraying crowds with bullets, targeting protesters with sharpshooters and hunting others down in their homes.
At least 193 people were killed during the crackdown–some shot once in the head, execution style.
Charges of attempted genocide were thrown out during the 14-month trial, but the prisoners were convicted last month of charges including “outrage against the constitution” and “inciting armed opposition.”
The prosecution recommended the death penalty. On Monday, a judge instead sentenced 30 of the defendants to life in prison and gave eight other prisoners terms of one to 18 years. The defendants were also stripped of their right to vote and to run for office.
But Meles said at Friday’s news conference that, as part of the pardon, the defendants will not be stripped of those rights.
U.S. officials — urged on by the Ethiopian immigrant community — had negotiated behind the scenes for the prisoners’ release. Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.) sponsored a bill in Congress calling for the unconditional release of all Ethiopian political prisoners
But some of the prisoners’ relatives said U.S. government efforts were compromised because of the Bush administration’s reliance on Ethiopia in fighting terrorism in the Horn of Africa.
Special correspondent Kassahun Addis contributed to this report from Addis Ababa, and staff writer Debbi Wilgoren contributed to this report from Washington.