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	Ethiopia: UN rights chief welcomes release of political prisoners by UN News / Committee to Protect Journalists   24 July 2007   Ethiopia: UN rights chief welcomes release of political prisoners. (UN News)   The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today welcomed the recent pardon and release of over three dozen political leaders and activists in Ethiopia and urged fair proceedings for dozens of other defendants still on trial.   “The pardons by the Government of Ethiopia are commendable,” Louise Arbour said in a statement released in Geneva on last Friday"s of action concerning 38 persons. “They are significant for what they represent in terms of the expansion of the democratic space in Ethiopia and prospects for national reconciliation.”   The trials of another 67 defendants held on charges similar to those previously leveled against the pardoned activists are set to resume on 25 July and 29 October, according to the statement.   The High Commissioner voiced hope the trials of these individuals “will abide by international standards of due process and be concluded in a timely fashion.”   July 16, 2007   In Ethiopia, High Court sentences six journalists to prison, four to life. (Committee to Protect Journalists)   Ethiopia’s High Court today handed down harsh criminal penalties, including life prison sentences, against six journalists and three publishers on anti-state charges in connection with critical coverage of the government during the deadly unrest in the aftermath of disputed parliamentary elections in 2005, according to local journalists.   At least 200 people packed the courtroom in the capital, Addis Ababa, as editors Andualem Ayele of Ethiop, Zelalem Gebre of Menelik, Mesfin Tesfaye of Abay, and Abiy Gizaw of Netsanet were handed life prison sentences and stripped of all civic rights forever, according to defense lawyer Weneawake Ayele. The prosecution last week had requested the death penalty for Tesfaye and Ayele, according to news reports. Gebre and Gizaw were sentenced in absentia.   “Receiving a life sentence for criticizing the government is not only outrageous but galling,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “These severe penalties are out of step with international norms and undermine the democratic credentials of Ethiopia’s government.”   More than 190 people were killed and dozens of opposition leaders and 14 journalists were put on official “wanted lists,” then jailed, when authorities crushed post-election protests alleging poll-rigging by the ruling party in November 2005, following the May elections. The journalists and publishers sentenced today on “outrages against the constitutional order” charges had all produced Amharic-language weeklies that were shuttered in the crackdown. Before 2005, more than 20 newspapers flourished in the country. Today, only five publish under intense self-censorship.   The journalists and publishers, who were sentenced today along with more than 20 opposition leaders, “could” appeal the sentences with Ethiopia’s Federal Supreme Court, Ayele told CPJ. But Information Minister Bereket Simon told the BBC the defendants had “admitted” to attempting to violently overthrow the government and had “asked for clemency.”   Following the sentencing today, state television reported that a plea for clemency had been submitted to the prime minister’s office, according to local journalists. The statement, bearing the signatures of all the defendants, including journalists, accepted full responsibility for the post-election violence, they said.   Two other editors, Wosonseged Gebrekidan of Addis Zena and Dawit Kebede of Hadar, jailed since November 2005, were still on trial on related charges, but did not risk life imprisonment or death, according to local journalists.   “Sadly, this is just the latest example of the authorities’ ongoing repression of the independent press which led CPJ to this year name Ethiopia the world’s worst backslider on press freedom,” Simon said.
	Governments must open their eyes to human rights violations by Christian Strohal OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights   13 July, 2007   OSCE participating States should work to ensure that crack-downs on legitimate human rights concerns come to an end, participants agreed at an OSCE conference concluded today.   "Governments must open their eyes to human rights violations, deal with them and learn from past mistakes," said Ambassador Christian Strohal, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).   "The growing trend in some parts of the OSCE region not to offer proper mechanisms for redress to victims of those violations is not only unjust and unfair and a violation of OSCE commitments - it is also a dangerous development."   The conference, which ended today, was organized by the OSCE Spanish Chairmanship and the ODIHR, focused on responsibilities and remedies in protecting human rights.   "If individuals and groups start viewing the State system as incapable of dealing with their complaints, they will try to find other ways," Strohal said. "Ignoring legitimate human rights concerns will not make them go away. The consequences of a failure to listen to, and act on, human rights violations can be devastating, as history has shown again and again."   Some 300 experts, human rights defenders and government officials attended the meeting. They made several recommendations calling on states to stop interfering in trials and in the work of non-governmental organizations. They also stressed that OSCE participating States should allow diplomats, magistrates and other interested parties to freely observe trials. NGOs participating in the conference presented several cases they have won on behalf of victims in international courts.   "Rights are belatedly recognized, policies are belatedly changed and those who have committed violations of human rights, or were responsible for them, are belatedly punished," Strohal said. "It may be late, and it is often too little, but it is something, and it helps to prevent much worse. "The OSCE human rights commitments are not merely high-sounding principles; they were written to prevent us from closing our eyes to legitimate grievances, and suffer the destabilization and threats to our security which this inevitably entails".   * The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world"s largest regional security organization whose 56 participating States span the geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok.
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