8 terrorism suspects put on Ethiopian TV

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Apr 12, 2007 | by Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Smiling broadly and wearing casual clothes, eight terrorism suspects have been paraded on Ethiopia's state television as the country faces mounting pressure to explain a controversial program to net alleged al-Qaida loyalists.

The detainees, including an American, told the Ethiopian News Agency they were being treated humanely. One said the captors were "like our friends" and another thanked the government for treating them so well.

The Tuesday night broadcast came hours after Ethiopia's government confirmed an Associated Press report that it had detained foreigners as part of an effort to stem terrorism.

in the Horn of Africa region.

Ethiopia, which has a long history of human rights abuses, disputed charges from rights groups the detentions violate international law. It said the jailings are part of the international war on terrorism and insisted it has the "right to defend itself from this danger."

A key U.S. ally in the region, Ethiopia has a large Christian population, but the country's Muslim community is growing rapidly and officials fear Islamic militants are making inroads.

The detainees were captured in Kenya and Somalia, then moved to Ethiopia on suspicion of having ties to an Islamic militia that Ethiopia's army helped defeat in neighboring Somalia. Extremists linked to al-Qaida fought on behalf of the Islamists.

Ethiopia initially denied having any foreigners in custody, but U.S. officials told the AP last week that they had questioned some terrorism suspects in Ethiopia.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, the guardian of the Geneva Conventions that protect victims of war, has tried unsuccessfully to meet with the detainees, ICRC spokesman Patrick Megevand said Wednesday.

In the broadcast, the prisoners offered a glowing image of Ethiopia.

"My treatment is good. No problems," said Amir Mohammed Meshal, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen whose transfer to Ethiopia by Kenyan authorities drew formal protests from U.S. diplomats earlier this year.

Muhibitabo Clement Ibrahim, a Rwandan, said: "I do appreciate everything. The treatment here is very good. Ethiopians are very sociable and they respect human rights."

And Munir Awad, a Swedish citizen of Lebanese descent, said: "They treat us very well, they are like our friends."

The news agency also provided a photo of the men, smiling and wearing T-shirts and track suits with their arms around each other. The location and date of the photo were not given.

In New Jersey, Meshal's father, Mohamed Meshal, said he had not seen the television footage but called it a "publicity stunt" that seemed designed to improve Ethiopia's image.

"My main concern is that my son is freed. That's my main concern. If they give them two minutes of publicity, fine, so be it," he said in a telephone interview from Tinton, N.J., where he lives.

The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, said this week it had no comment on the detentions.

A spokeswoman for Sweden's Foreign Ministry, Petra Hansson, wouldn't comment specifically on the TV footage, but said: "A person who is not accused of a crime should be released."

The Red Cross said showing prisoners of war on television or otherwise exposing them to public curiosity violates the Geneva Conventions.

There has been no official determination about whether the detainees are POWs. Some were swept up by Ethiopian troops that allied with Somalia's U.N.-backed interim government to defeat the Islamic militia. Others were deported from Kenya, where many Somalis have fled the violence in their homeland.

The Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Ministry said Tuesday that 29 of 41 foreign detainees had been ordered released by the government and that five already had been let go. The ministry said only 12 foreign detainees would remain in custody after the next round of releases.

It was not clear from Tuesday's report if the eight men shown on television would remain in custody or be freed.

Human Rights Watch, which has accused the Ethiopian government of running a secret detention program, said it thinks Ethiopia is holding more suspects than it says and condemned the decision to show the detainees on TV.

"Ethiopia's donors, like the European Union and United States, should be very concerned about the fact that Ethiopia is putting these people on TV before they have had access to independent monitors like the Red Cross or lawyers or even due process," said Tom Porteous, the British-based director of the rights group.

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Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana in Trenton, N.J., and Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Ethiopian News Agency: http://www.ena.gov.et