Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
SWEDES JAILED IN ETHIOPIA

FOREIGN MINISTRY

Swedes to face Ethiopia court next week

The trial of two Swedish journalists facing terrorism charges in Ethiopia will begin next week, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

Published: 13 October 2011 07:44 CEST

“The trial will take place on the 18th of October,” Shimeles Kemal told AFP, apologizing for earlier saying the trial would be held a day later.

Photographer Johan Persson and reporter Martin Schibbye, both freelancers, were arrested in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region on July 1 after entering the country from Somalia with the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).

They were charged last month with engaging in terrorist activities, abetting an illegal terrorist group and entering the country illegally.

The journalists will hear the formal charges brought against them and will be asked to enter pleas.

“The journalists will appear with their defence council, they will be required to submit their objections to their charges if they have any … and they will enter into a plea of guilty or not guilty,” Shimeles said.

According to the press freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists, Ethiopia is one of Africa’s most restrictive countries for media.

The ONLF, formed in 1984, has been fighting for the independence of the remote southeastern Ogaden, populated mainly by ethnic Somalis, which the rebels say has been marginalised by Addis Ababa.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

DATA

Austria’s Foreign Ministry hit by ‘serious cyber attack’

Austria's foreign ministry is facing a "serious cyber attack", it said late on Saturday, warning another country could be responsible.

Published: 5 January 2020 07:44 CET
Austria's Foreign Ministry hit by 'serious cyber attack'
The Foreign Ministry building on Minoritenplatz, Vienna, back in 2006. Photo: Gryffindor/Wikimedia Commons
“Due to the gravity and nature of the attack, it cannot be excluded that it is a targeted attack by a state actor,” it said in a statement with the interior ministry shortly before 11.00 pm, adding that the attack was ongoing.
   
“In the past, other European countries have been the target of similar attacks,” it continued.
   
Immediate measures had been taken and a “coordination committee” set up, it said, without elaborating.
 
READ ALSO: 
 
The attack came as Austria's Greens on Saturday gave the go-ahead to a coalition with the country's conservatives at a party congress in Salzburg, removing the last obstacle to the unprecedented alliance.
   
The German government's IT network in 2018 was hit by a cyberattack.
   
Last year the EU adopted powers to punish those outside the bloc who launch cyberattacks that cripple hospitals and banks, sway elections and steal company secrets or funds.