(Sept 10, 2012, The Local (Sweden)--Freelance reporters Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson
were arrested in Ethiopia's Ogaden region last year in the company of
what the government says were rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation
Front (ONLF).
 |
| Jonas Gratzer/Kontinent A/AFP/Getty Images |
The pair was detained after illegally crossing the border from Somalia,
and after a long and controversial trial were jailed for 11 years by an
Ethiopian court in December 2011, having been found guilty of supporting
terrorism and entering the country illegally. Ethiopia has a tradition of pardoning some prisoners in connection with
the Ethiopian new year, which this year falls on Tuesday, September
11th.
Citing an anonymous government sources, the Reuters news agency reported on Monday that Schibbye and Persson were among those to be pardoned. However, the Swedish foreign ministry has yet to confirm the news. "I don't have any such information," ministry spokesperson Camilla Åkesson Lindblom told the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.
Following their conviction, the two Swedish journalists opted not to appeal the guilty verdict, putting their hopes in a pardon. "There is a tradition of pardon and forgiveness in Ethiopia and we choose to put our trust in this tradition,” Schibbye and Persson said in a short statement after reaching their decision in January.
The death of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in August prompted some experts to warn that the Swedes' pardoning process could be delayed by a change in leadership in the east African country. “It is too early to say if this will complicate the process indefinitely, but in principle that isn’t likely. Whoever gets appointed PM will sooner or later have to find a solution as Ethiopia is under significant international pressure to free the jailed Swedes,” Norwegian Ethiopia expert Kjetil Tronvoll told The Local at the time.
At the weekend, Sveriges Television (SVT) reported that approximately 1,900 were set to be pardoned by Ethiopia and that the Swedes would "likely" be on the list. However, relatives of the two Swedish journalists refused to comment on the SVT reports, which they labeled as "speculation".
Citing an anonymous government sources, the Reuters news agency reported on Monday that Schibbye and Persson were among those to be pardoned. However, the Swedish foreign ministry has yet to confirm the news. "I don't have any such information," ministry spokesperson Camilla Åkesson Lindblom told the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.
Following their conviction, the two Swedish journalists opted not to appeal the guilty verdict, putting their hopes in a pardon. "There is a tradition of pardon and forgiveness in Ethiopia and we choose to put our trust in this tradition,” Schibbye and Persson said in a short statement after reaching their decision in January.
The death of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in August prompted some experts to warn that the Swedes' pardoning process could be delayed by a change in leadership in the east African country. “It is too early to say if this will complicate the process indefinitely, but in principle that isn’t likely. Whoever gets appointed PM will sooner or later have to find a solution as Ethiopia is under significant international pressure to free the jailed Swedes,” Norwegian Ethiopia expert Kjetil Tronvoll told The Local at the time.
At the weekend, Sveriges Television (SVT) reported that approximately 1,900 were set to be pardoned by Ethiopia and that the Swedes would "likely" be on the list. However, relatives of the two Swedish journalists refused to comment on the SVT reports, which they labeled as "speculation".
Source: The Local (Sweden)
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