Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
An Ethiopian court has sentenced five people to death and 33 others to life in jail for plotting to assassinate government officials. Prosecutors have said on Tuesday that the convicted people were members of the Ginbot7 (15 May) led by the main opposition challenger in the disputed election in 2005.
Four of the five were sentenced in absentia while the fifth, opposition leader Melaku Tefera, was in court for the verdict.
"All were accused of conspiring to overthrow the constitutional government by force, to destroy development projects, to assassinate senior government officials and instigate the armed forces to rise against the constitutional order," a Justice Ministry spokesman told Reuters.
Ethiopia has not carried out any executions for years, and convicts sentenced to die typically languish on death row.
Among the four sentenced to death in absentia was Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen, Berhanu Nega, who teaches economics at Philadelphia's Bucknell University.
Berhanu was elected mayor of capital Addis Ababa in Ethiopia's last elections in 2005, but was jailed with other opposition leaders after disputing the government's victory in the election and were accused of orchestrating street protests.
Security forces killed about 200 protesters who Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said were marching on government buildings to overthrow him.
Berhanu was pardoned in 2007 and went to the United States where he set up his "May 15" opposition group named after the date of the 2005 election.
Addis Ababa says the group planned to blow up power and telecoms facilities to provoke protesters who would then march on government buildings and try to topple the government.
The arrests have worried rights groups, who say the Ethiopian government has been cracking down on dissent ahead of national elections next May.
Judge Adam Ibrahim of the federal High Court said in the court that the five convicted people have committed grave offences and four of them have not learnt from their previous sentences.
Government officials said that they found weapons, including land mines, at their houses when they were arrested in April.
AFCON: 46 hurt in Zambia victory celebrations09/02
African Peer Review Mechanism making progress08/02
Combating HIV infections among African women08/02
Legume cultivation booms in Western Kenya07/02
Malawi vendors chase out Chinese07/02
Zim: Informal sector urged to join HIV battle05/02
Elections: Wole Soyinka warns Mugabe, Wade03/02
AU elections rescheduled for June in Malawi01/02
Senegal in turmoil as protest intensifies01/02
Zimbabwe’s inflation still favourable -…01/02
AFCON 2012: Sudan qualifies after four decades31/01
Senegalese opposition to intensify protests31/01
Malawi: Rights coalition condemn stripping of…30/01
Kenya to deworm five million children annually30/01
Benin’s Yayi Boni is AU’s new…30/01
