News: Court postpones hearing of Jawar et al citing election related security concerns
Left to right: Jawar Mohammed, Bekele Gerba
By Mahlet Fasil @MahletFasil
Addis Ababa, June 17, 2021 – The Federal High Court Lideta Branch, First Constitutional and Anti-Terrorism Bench that today was scheduled to rule on hearing on the conduct of prosecutor’s witness hearing against the defendants in Jawar Mohammed’s file. The hearing was postponed to a further date as the defendants didn’t appear at the court. The 21 defendants out of the 24 prosecuted in the file, who were expected to appear at the court, were only represented by their lawyers at today’s hearing.
The court explained that the defendants did not appear at the hearing in person due to the court’s order to postpone today’s hearing to avoid possible security threats related to the election campaigns that lasted until yesterday.
In the previous hearing it was recalled that the defendants on Jawar Mohammed’s file told the court that they will no longer appear in court to follow their hearing. In a letter written to the court, the defendants expressed their frustrations on the executive bodies who they accused of failing to honor the court’s hearing. “Maybe if the country regains peace after the election in two years’ time, we ask the court to postpone our hearing until then.” the defendants said.
The court gave an alternative appointment for June 28, 2021, to proceed with the session that was scheduled to pass a decision on the conduct of the prosecutor’s witness hearing.AS
