Ethiopia court sentences UN staffer to seven years in jail

Jun 22, 2012

A United Nations worker found guilty of participating in a terrorist group in Ethiopia was Friday sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison, a judge said.

A United Nations worker found guilty of participating in a terrorist group in Ethiopia was Friday sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison, a judge said.

"Under the guise of his job, he has been passing information to a terrorist organization with the aim to help them," judge Mulugeta Kidane said in court before delivering the sentence.

Abdurahman Sheikh Hassan, an Ethiopian national, was found guilty of "participating in a terrorist organization" earlier this week because of his alleged links to the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), an outlawed seccessionist rebel group.

He appeared in court Friday wearing a track jacket and slacks and holding Muslim prayer beads. Hassan, who does not speak Ethiopia's main local language Amharic, shook his lawyer's hand after she translated the sentence to him.

He was sentenced along with Sherif Badio, whom the charge sheet lists as a senior member of the ONLF. Badio was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for "serving as a leader or a decision maker in a terrorist organisation."

Hassan, the head of UN security in Ethiopia's troubled Ogaden region, was arrested last July after he helped to negotiate the release of two UN World Food Program hostages.

According to the charge sheet, the hostages were kidnapped by members of the ONLF.

The judge said Hassan failed to prove he did not have links to the ONLF and said he was guilty of collaborating with Badio.

AFP

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