Bildt to meet jailed journalists' relatives
Published: 24 Dec 11 10:55 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/38134/20111224/
Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has promised to meet the relatives of journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye following their conviction on terror charges in Ethiopia
- Jailed Swedes 'innocent': Ethiopian rebels (23 Dec 11)
- 'Lundin may have led Bildt to the heart of darkness' (22 Dec 11)
- Swedes convicted of terror crimes in Ethiopia (21 Dec 11)
Persson and Schibbye were arrested on July 1st and were found guilty of terror crimes by an Ethiopian court on Wednesday. Prosecutors have called for a maximum sentence of over 18 years in prison and are set to announce their decision on December 27th.
Bildt's predecessor as foreign minister, Social Democrat Jan Eliasson, criticized Bildt for comments made after the Swedes were arrested suggesting the two shouldn't have been in the area in the first place.
Questions have also been raised over Bildt's handling of the case in light of claims by the journalists that they were in Ethiopia working on a story about Lundin Petroleum, the board of which Bildt was member prior to becoming foreign minister.
According to Sweden's ambassador in Ethiopia, Jens Odlander, part of the reason for Sweden's "quiet diplomacy" is that the Ethiopian government refused to hold talks with Swedish representatives during the journalists' trial.
"But as soon as the verdict came, we've jump started the political process to get the Swede's free," Fredrik Spik, consular head of the Swedish embassy in Ethiopia, told DN.
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Swedes had their entire trip arranged by terrorists with portfolio that reads:
BBC NEWS: 74 Chinese & Ethiopian oil workers machine-gunned asleep in bed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6588055.stm
REUTERS NEWS: UN workers ambushed, killed, kidnapped
http://af.reuters.com/article/ethiopiaNews/idAFLDE74D0CU20110514
Another face of the story is that if ever extra protection needs to be provided just because they were journalists, why did they, without enough investigation of who they were running with, try to get it from a labelled terrorist group?
For instance, imagine the fate of an Ethiopian journalist who entered Sweden through Norway through illegal means and escorted by a group that is terrorizing Sweden.