Ethiopian high court sentences 5 to death over terrorism charges

Ethiopia court sentences 5 to death over terrorism

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — An Ethiopian court has sentenced five people to death and 33 to life in prison for being members of a terror group and conspiring to assassinate government officials.

Those convicted Tuesday have been accused of being members of the Ginbot 7 — May 15 in the Ethiopian calendar — which refers to election day in 2005 when postelection violence killed close to 200 people.

The prosecution asked the court to impose severe penalties because most of the accused were members of the army.

Among those sentenced to death is Berhanju Nega, an exiled opposition leader now living in the United States who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. Nega is currently an associate professor of economics at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.