Swedish pair in Ethiopia jail deny terror charges

Swedish pair in Ethiopia jail deny terror
charges‎

20 October, 2011 | The Local
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The two Swedish reporters facing terrorism charges in Ethiopia
pleaded not guilty when the trial resumed on Thursday, but
apologised for having entered the country illegally.

Photographer

Johan Persson and

reporter Martin

Schibbye, both

freelancers, have

been held in jail

since they were

arrested on July 1

with Ogaden

National Liberation

Front (ONLF) rebels after a battle with government troops.

"I entered the country illegally without proper documentation, for
this I am guilty, for this I apologise to the Ethiopian government,"
Schibbye told the court.

"But I am not guilty to the charge of terrorism."

His colleague, Persson, also admitted to not having proper
documentation.

But he added: "My intention was to do my job as a journalist, to
describe the fighting, nothing else, not guilty."

An AFP reporter at the court said the Swedes, dressed in dark
suits and ties, looked serious as they listened to the charges
against them in the court room, which was packed with around a
hundred people.

"Your honour, I am a Swedish journalist, my job is to gather
news," Schibbye told the judge.

"We did not have any intention to collaborate with any group with
interest to destabilise Ethiopia. For that we are not guilty."

The two were reportedly seen to smile at times to family members
present in the court room, including Persson's father and
Schibbye's wife, as well as to around 20, mainly foreign,
journalists.

The ONLF, formed in 1984, has been fighting for the
independence of the remote south eastern Ogaden, populated
mainly by ethnic Somalis, which the rebels say has been
marginalised by Addis Ababa.

After being arrested in July while in the Ogaden region while in the
company of the ONLF, the Swedes were charged last month with
being engaged in terrorist activities, aiding and abetting a terrorist
group, and entering the country illegally without permission, from
neighbouring Somalia.

Two fellow co-accused, Ethiopian ethnic Somalis suspected of
being ONLF members, also pleaded not guilty.

The trial was then adjourned to November 1st.

The prosecution claims they need at least ten days to gather the
witnesses they want to testify, which are at the moment in the
Ogaden province, according to daily Dagens Nyheter (DN).

On Thursday the two Swedes' defence lawyers said that they had
yet to get to see the complete body of evidence, and that they
need this to be able to defend the case in court.

"It is apparently a question of video clips, information from
computers and memory cards. But the prosecutor said that these
will be brought forward as the trial gets properly underway. the
judge seemed happy with that," said DN reporter Thomas Hall,
who was one of the reporters present in the court room.

The trial is expected to take between two and 12 months. If found
guilty, the two Swedes could be facing up to 40 years in prison.

Courtesy