Swedish Journalists Found Guilty in Ethiopia

A court in Ethiopia has sentenced two Swedish journalists to eleven years in prison for helping an outlawed rebel group.

The reporter Martin Schibbye and the photographer Johan Persson were arrested in July after crossing into Ethiopia’s Ogaden region.

They were convicted last week of aiding the Ogaden National Liberation Front. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with the BBC’s Kevin Mwachiro in Nairobi about the story.

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Lisa Mullins: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. Two Swedish journalists have been in a prison in Ethiopia since July. Ethiopian troops captured the two journalists after they illegally entered the country with an ethnic Somali rebel group. The reporters say that they were gathering news about a Swedish oil company that’s exploring the region for oil. But a court in Ethiopia concluded otherwise last week and then today sentenced the two Swedes to 11 years in prison on charges of supporting terrorism. The BBC’s Kevin Mwachiro has been following this story from Nairobi, Kenya. What specifically has the Ethiopian court convicted these two men of doing?

Kevin Mwachiro: Sentencing was given out this morning to Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson for supporting terrorism within the country. They had been arrested in July as they were found to be with a rebel group that operates out of Ethiopia, and the name of the group is the Ogaden National Liberation Front, or ONLF. The judge this morning described the sentence as an appropriate sentence. I must say the prosecution had been calling for 18 years initially when their case was brought to court, but they seemed to have been given, well, if you can say a lighter judgement of 11 years.

Mullins: What do they believe these two men were actually doing and what do the men say they were doing?

Mwachiro: The men say they were just news gathering, they were investigating a story of a Swedish oil company that is said to be prospecting for oil in eastern Ethiopia or the Somali region as it is known, but they admit that they had crossed over into Ethiopia illegally. This area, the Somali Ogaden area is a very hostile area. The Ethiopian government restricts access to this area due to the rebel presence, so it was a bit of a surprise I presume for the Ethiopian government to find western journalists in this s pot of the region. The Ethiopian government has been accused by human rights organizations for carrying out widespread human rights abuses in this area. So it’s not an area that is open to even regular Ethiopians.

Mullins: So now they’re gonna be spending 11 years in prison, what is called rigorous imprisonment in Ethiopia. What does that mean?

Mwachiro: The two gentlemen, Mr. Schibbye and Mr. Persson, had been charged under a new antiterrorism law which human rights groups say is being used in Ethiopia to crackdown on the opposition and the media. It was a tough sentence that was handed down to them because the prison conditions in Africa are not the best and it can be harsh for not just locals, but anyone who’s been incarcerated. There is talk of an appeal, but that could take close to two years. Some of the lawyers who are representing the gentlemen are contemplating from what we’ve been made to understand, a pardon, and they are in discussion with the Swedish government and Ethiopian authorities.

Mullins: You said that the international community is following very closely this terror trial and has been. What’s the reason it’s gotten international attention?

Mwachiro: I think the reason it has gotten international attention is because very many of the human rights groups believe that this was a politically motivated ruling. There’s also the fact that the Ethiopian government is enforcing this antiterrorism law. Ethiopia, just to give you a bit of context as well, is said to have the highest number of exiled journalists in the world, so media freedoms aren’t exercised within Ethiopia.

Mullins: Okay, thank you, the BBC’s Kevin Mwachiro in Nairobi reporting about the two Swedish journalists who’ve been sentenced to 11 years of rigorous imprisonment in Ethiopia. Thank you very much.

Mwachiro: You’re welcome.

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