Efforts by the Ethiopian government to sentence 38 Ethiopian opposition activists to death are anathema to democracy and should be opposed by the United States and other democracies in the African Union and around the world, Freedom House said today.
The 38 politicians and activists were convicted last month of “breaching the constitution” during a period of unrest following disputed elections in 2005. They will be formally sentenced next week, and the prosecutor of the case has now called for their execution. Included among the 38 are leaders of the main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, as well as several members of parliament and the mayor of Addis Ababa, Mr. Berhanu Negga.
“Any government that suggests sentencing its opposition leaders to death in response to legitimate demonstrations of dissent cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, call itself a democracy,” said Paula Schriefer, director of advocacy of Freedom House. “Ethiopia, the seat of the African Union, must demonstrate respect for the rule of law by allowing full freedom of expression and association for members of the political opposition, as well as other citizens.”
While Ethiopian leaders have presented the country as an emerging democracy in an otherwise tumultuous region, the government has been sharply criticized for its response to the protests following the 2005 elections. Scores of civilians aligned with the opposition were killed and thousands more were arrested. The U.S. government has been muted in its criticism of Ethiopia, however, and considers the country an ally in the war on terror.
“The U.S. government clearly needs allies Horn of Africa, but as with all alliances, there is room for criticism,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. “The Bush administration’s engagement with Ethiopia should enable it to persuade the Meles government to refrain from such a heinous act of retribution.”
In the 2007 version of Freedom in the World, Freedom House’s annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Ethiopia was ranked Partly Free. The country received a rating of 5 (on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the lowest) for political rights and a 5 for civil liberties, and was given a downward trend arrow for the government’s repression of opposition protests.
The report also notes that freedom of association in Ethiopia is very limited, and most of the country’s NGOs are reluctant to advocate for policies that may bring them into conflict with the government. Similarly, the press environment is extremely restricted. Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press 2007 survey notes that “the broader political crackdown which began in November 2005 continued to have extremely negative implications for the media” in 2006.
Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expression of freedom around the world, has monitored political rights and civil liberties in Ethiopia since 1972.
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