On 29 December 2009, Birtukan Mideksa, the leader of Ethiopia’s Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, marked one year in prison. The 36-year-old lawyer and former judge was initially imprisoned between 2005 and 2007 following her role as an opposition politician in the disputed and violent elections of May 2005. She was then re-arrested in 2008 after talking to journalists about the terms of her release and publicly denying that she had apologised for her actions during the election period in order to be pardoned. At a press conference on 11 December, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stated, “There will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.”
NEWS
Opposition leader marks first year of life sentence
On 29 December 2009, Birtukan Mideksa, the leader of Ethiopia’s Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, marked one year in prison. The 36-year-old lawyer and former judge was initially imprisoned between 2005 and 2007 following her role as an opposition politician in the disputed and violent elections of May 2005. She was then re-arrested […]
04 Jan 10
