Twenty Ethiopian journalists and opposition figures accused of trying to topple the government will now spend between eight years and the rest of their lives in prison. As the New York Times reported, these defendants, who were convicted on terrorism charges, were the victims of security concerns being used "as an excuse to crack down on dissent and media freedoms."
The Horn of Africa country, located between Sudan and Somalia, is seen by the U.S. as a source of stability and as a key regional partner in the war on terror, explained Claire Beston, the Ethiopia researcher at Amnesty International.
"And that is to the detriment of the domestic human rights situation in Ethiopia," she said. "Those freedoms are being sacrificed for that stabilizing role that Ethiopia is being seen to play in the region, which may turn out to be a very short-sighted strategy."