Will the political dissidents be spared?

Ethiopia

Off with their heads, maybe
Jul 12th 2007 | NAIROBI
From The Economist print edition

EARLIER this year, Ethiopian courts released many of the country's most important political dissidents from the grim Kaliti jail on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. They had been there since they were rounded up by police following opposition protests (in which 193 people were killed) against flawed presidential elections in 2005. In another promising sign of reconciliation, charges against the 38 remaining defendants were reduced from treason and genocide to “outrage against the constitution” and “incitement to armed rebellion”.

So it was a real shock this week when the state prosecutor called for all 38 to be put to death. Those facing the firing squad include Hailu Shawel, the elderly head of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), the main opposition party, and Berhanu Nega(above), the elected mayor of the capital, Addis Ababa. Read more.....