Today around 3 PM local time, 38 of the 71 Kinijit leaders and journalists who have been in jail since Nov 2005 wakled out of the disease-infested Qaliti prison. As three minibuses carrying them exited the prison ground, they were greeted with cheers from hundreds of supporters who were waiting them outside. The Kinijit leaders responded by flashing “V” signed as the minibuses followed by several cars sped toward Addis Ababa.
Earlier today, Meles Zenawi, the butcher of Addis Ababa and Mogadishu, told reporters at a press conference: “The pardon is total. They are being freed with their constitutional rights restored. They have committed themselves to adhere to and respect the rule of law as well as the constitution of the country.”
A few moments after his release, Kinijit chairman Hailu Shawel told reporters that he had no apology to make for protesting 2005 election results because, “for us it is a normal political protest.” He said that he signed a formal apology under duress.
Bereket Simon, a propaganda adviser to Meles, declined to comment on Hailu Shawel’s remarks.
Ephraim Isaac, the chairman of a council of elders that mediated for the released of the detained opposition members, held a press conference to thank the president.
“A solution was found in a traditional Ethiopian way to achieve national reconciliation,” he said.
The council received the help of Haile Gebre Selassie, a national hero regarded by many as the greatest distance runner of all times.
“For the sake of peace we did what we had to do. For the last 18 months we’ve been working… So now we are very happy to have this beautiful and wonderful news,” he told reporters.
The council added in a statement that they would continue to work for the release of other opposition supporters detained in 2005.
“I’m very happy to see them released,” said Elsa, the sister-in-law of Hailu Shawel, chairman of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit). “I just want to see him back in his own home with his family,” she told reporters at Kaliti prison. 
Meles said at a press conference this morning: “The Ethiopian government isn’t willing and is unable to be run like a banana republic from Capitol Hill. Some individuals appear to be entertaining such illusions.”
The Meles regime pays U.S. lobbysts $50,000 per months to influence the U.S. lawmakers at the Capitol Hill (the U.S. Congress).
The Washington Post today pointed out: The prisoners were among an estimated 30,000 people arrested in a widespread crackdown on opposition supporters following Ethiopia’s 2005 elections, when the opposition made major gains despite accusations that the vote was flawed. Most of those arrested were quickly released but the top leadership of the country’s main opposition party, along with journalists, an elderly professor and the Addis Ababa mayor remained jailed. While Meles accused the opposition leaders of inciting violent protests following the elections, a government report later found that the protesters were unarmed and that Ethiopian security authorities had used excessive force, spraying crowds with bullets, targeting protesters with sharpshooters and hunting others down in their homes. At least 193 people were killed during the crackdown–some shot once in the head, execution style.
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