The Ethiopian Federal Court has sentenced two Swedish journalists accused of having links with a terrorist group to 11 years each in prison.
Johan Persson, a photographer and Martin Schibbye a reporter, were last week convicted on terrorism charges and illegal entry into the Horn of Africa country.
They were arrested in July during a confrontation between the Ethiopian army and rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a designated terrorist organisation in Ethiopia.
Passing the sentence on Tuesday, Judge Shemu Sirgaga said the court had rejected the maximum 18 year prison sentence proposed by the prosecutors, which would have seen the journalists spending at least 20 years in jail.
He said he took into consideration the journalists background and their criminal records.
Whilst the two journalists looked unmoved by the sentence, a visibly disappointed Swedish ambassador to Ethiopia, Jens Odlander stormed out of the court room immediately after the judge's verdict.
The two journalists were the first foreigners to be charged with terrorism in Ethiopia.
Their lawyer, Sileshy Ketsela, said the decision on a possible appeal would be made by Thursday.
ONLF is fighting for the independence of the Ogaden region dominated by ethnic Somalis.
Read more about events leading to the sentencing of Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye:
- Ethiopia kills ONLF rebel fighters, arrests Swedish journalists
- Two Swedish journalists back in Ethiopian court
- Guilty plea in Swede journalists’ Ethiopian trial
- Ethiopian court to rule in Swedish journalists’ case
- Ethiopian court says journalists not members of terrorist group
- Ethiopia: Swedish journalists' co-accused jailed
- Ethiopian court to give verdict against two Swedish journalists
- Ethiopia convicts Swedish journalists on terrorism charges
