Ethiopian Government Fake Evidence against Swedish Journalists (video)

Swedish TV1 – Evidence against Schibbye and Persson was staged

Ogaden News Agency Editors Note: We’re pleased to share with our readers a translation of recent Swedish TV exposé of staged video showing what really happened when the two Swedish journalists, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, were caught by the Ethiopian army on their way to Ogaden in July 2011. This original 3 minute video shows how the staged video was made and later used as evidence to convict the Swedish journalists. The video was smuggled out of Ethiopia by Abdullahi Hussien, the man who put it together. Abdullahi fled Ethiopia and is now hiding in foreign country facing threats to his life. He promises to reveal more damning evidence against the corrupt and immoral leadership of the Somali Regional administration led by Abdi Mohamud Omar (Abdi Iley) and his Ethiopian army backers. Stay tuned.

Evidence against Schibbye and Persson was staged

Proof of Hoax in Ethiopia: SVT [Swedish TV] can now reveal that the video the Ethiopian government used as evidence of the arrest of the Swedish journalists was staged. Our sources even claim that the video was shot two days after Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye were arrested.

During the trial of Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye in the autumn of 2011 prosecutors showed a video proving clearly that the Swedes meant to commit crimes. Already then the video sequence was questioned and the prosecutor was forced to admit that the sound of gunfire was applied to the video later on. But the prosecutor still insisted that the films showed the arrest was done authentically.

Well-directed acting

SVT [Swedish TV] is now in possession of some of the unedited raw material. The prosecutor’s film gives the impression that there is heavy fighting when two rebels from the ONLF guerrillas were arrested. But in the original material it can be clearly seen that the “rebels” are acting as if they were extras in a movie and laughing between the scenes. When SVT [Swedish TV] examines more sequences, it becomes even clearer that it is a well-directed acting scene.
“They were just actors and had never even met Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson,” said Abdulahi Hussein, who provided the material to SVT [Swedish TV] and now living under death threats. Despite this, he chooses to come forward with his name.

False evidence

At the trial, two soldiers from the special border police force testified that a large number of ONLF rebels were killed when the Swedish journalists were arrested. To prove this, there is a dead rebel in the prosecutor’s film. The man is alleged to have been killed a few minutes earlier, and the sequence is taken from a distance. The original material shows a recent corpse, but SVT’s sources say that it is an old corpse. The bullet holes are dry and part of the face is bluish.

“The military kept Johan and Martin in the jungle for several days. The reason for it was to find time to record the movie. When the film was finished, they were taken to the capital Addis Ababa so that the embassy could meet them,” said Abdulahi Hussein.

Smuggled out

The film material was smuggled out in stages from Ethiopia by sources who are now living under death threat. Abdulahi Hussein previously worked within the Ethiopian administration in the Ogaden but has now fled the country. He was responsible for the collection of the filmed material used in the Ethiopian video, and it was he who approved the result.
“The purpose of the video was to prosecute them and get them sentenced to a long prison term”.

Source: Swedish TV1
Notice: Swedish TV2 will air on Thursday, 8.00 o’clock an hour long special investigative program (Uppdrag Granskning-special) about this revelation.