Stockholm - Sweden protested Wednesday against an Ethiopian court ruling that found two Swedish journalists guilty of terrorism charges and illegal entry into the African country.
'Our view has been and remains that the two were in the country on a journalistic assignment. They should be released as soon as possible,' Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said.
The statement was issued shortly after a court in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa convicted Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson on terrorism charges. Sentencing was due on December 27.
The prosecutor called for 15-year jail terms, Swedish media at the courthouse reported.
Reinfeldt said the government was discussing the case with the journalists and their families, and had contacted Ethiopian authorities.
Journalist Schibbye and photojournalist Persson were arrested in July. The two had entered the eastern Ethiopian province of Ogaden, where they planned to investigate alleged human rights violations in the restive region, which is closed to reporters.
During the trial the two admitted to entering the country illegally from Somalia, but denied terrorism charges.The two were travelling with members of the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) - as so-called embedded reporters - when they were arrested.
Several media watchdog organizations, pressure groups like Amnesty International and the Swedish Union of Journalists (SJF) have called for their release.
'It is a blow that two Swedish journalists are sentenced and jailed on such flimsy charges. They have not committed acts of terrorism, these are ordinary journalistic methods,' SJF head Jonas Nordling said.
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written by farax, December 22, 2011
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written by Hassan, December 25, 2011
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