May 10,2017
borkena,Ethiopian News
Ethiopian Federal High Court sentenced Yonatan Tesfaye to six years prison terms after passing guilty verdict over his comment on social media. He was public relation of Semayawi (Blue) party, one of the registered oppositions in Ethiopia.
Yonatan Tesfaye’s activism on facebook were used against him in the charge “encouraging terrorism” which is part of the anti-terrorism legislation – a tool that government is using against political dissent in the country.
Yonatan’s lawyer,according to reports published by Addis Standard, is planning to appeal the sentence.
In a similar development, court passed guilty verdict against Getachew Shiferaw, editor-in-chief of the Negere Ethiopia newspaper, semayawi party’s voice. Amnesty International dubbed the verdict on Getachew as “slap in the face.”
Like Yonatan Tesfaye, he was charged with terrorism for a facebook comment he made when the late Meles Zenawi was confronted by activist and journalist, Abebe Gelaw, at a global forum in Washington DC. Later, the charge was relegated to “inciting violence.”
Getachew Shiferaw is to hear from the court regarding sentence.
Dozens of journalists and opposition leaders are languishing in prison in connection with tramped up charges of “terrorism.”
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