(THE HINDU) – In 2011, Ms. Reeyot Alemu was arrested and charged with conspiring, with journalist Woubshet Taye and exiled opposition activist Elias Kifle, to attack critical telecommunication and electrical infrastructure like telephone and electricity cables. Mr. Sileshi said he was held without charge for 3 months in a bid to make him testify against his fiancée.
The prosecution stated that the Eritrean government and variety of proscribed groups like GINBOT 7, headed by exiled former opposition leader Berhanu Nega, had funded Mr. Kifle in his quest to foment instability in Ethiopia.
A bank transfer from Mr. Elias to Ms. Reeyot as payment for articles she wrote for Mr. Kifle’s website, Ethiopian Review, was presented as evidence along with a photograph of anti-government graffiti that she mailed him.
“Reeyot is one of many journalists I know,” Mr. Kifle, who was sentenced in absentia, said in an email, “The reason they threw her in jail is because she was investigating the corruption and lack of transparency surrounding the Nile dam project.” … CONTINUE READING