On 19 March, an Ethiopian court turned down the appeal of an Evangelical Christian sentenced to seven months in prison for ‘causing outrage to religious peace and feeling’.
Temesgen Mitiku Mezemir, 24, the leader of an Evangelical fellowship group, was found guilty of defaming the tabot, a replica of the tablets of the law sacred to Orthodox Christians.
The charges against him were brought by members of the predominant Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC), to which just under half of Ethiopia’s population belongs. Relations between the EOC and the fast-growing Evangelical churches are often strained, characterised by mutual suspicion.
At the January hearing, the court expected to hear the prosecutor’s witnesses, but in a highly unusual turn of events, the judge instead invited court attendees to give their opinion of the accused. After the hearing, Mezemir and some other Evangelicals were reportedly attacked outside the court, while police failed to intervene. Five of the Evangelicals were injured.
