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Ethiopia frees activists
28/03/2008 20:07 - (SA)
Nairobi - Two Ethiopian rights activists detained for inciting violence in the country's disputed 2005 elections were freed on Friday, a rights group said.
Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie were sentenced to 30 months in jail in December, but had already served an equivalent term after being denied bail seven times.
"We are thrilled that Daniel and Netsanet have finally been released from prison. It has been a long wait for them and their families, but finally freedom and justice is theirs," Kumi Naidoo, an official with Global Call to Action Against Poverty for which the pair worked, said.
Bekele and Demissie were the only remaining defendants out of more than 100 opposition figures and journalists put on trial following 2005 polls which the ruling party won but the opposition claimed were rigged.
At least 193 civilians and six police officers died in the capital Addis Ababa in post-election violence.
- AFP
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