EXILED PROFESSOR SENTENCED TO DEATH

Those convicted have been accused of being members of the Ginbot 7 - May 15 in the Ethiopian calendar - which refers to Ethiopia's election day in 2005 when post-election violence killed nearly 200 people.

Among those sentenced to death was Berhanu Nega, an exiled opposition leader who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. But Berhanu, currently an associate professor of economics at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, dismissed the legitimacy of the court and its sentence.

"This is what the government wanted in order to continue terrorising the population and there is nothing more to it than that," he said.

"For those of us who know this government, there is no surprise."

Three of the other five sentenced to death are also living in exile outside Ethiopia; one is in custody.

The prosecution asked the court to impose severe penalties because many of the accused were members of the army. Many of those convicted were expected to appeal.

All but two of the defendants in Ethiopian custody have proclaimed their innocence. Two defendants co-operated with the prosecution and were sentenced to 10 years.

Berhanu and more than 100 other opposition politicians were arrested after the 2005 election and put on trial for treason. Berhanu and others were pardoned and freed after 20 months, but the government last week revoked Berhanu's pardon - and that was when Berhanu knew that further action would be taken against him, he said Tuesday.

According to a Bucknell University article on Berhanu, the economics professor was a leader in the democratic opposition in Ethiopia after returning there in the mid-1990s. In 2005, he became the first elected mayor in Ethiopia's history with 75% of the vote, but the ruling party declared victory in races throughout the country.