Court says Ethiopian singer Teddy Afro ‘Guilty’

Dec 01 2008 - Ethiopia’s Federal High Court, 8th Criminal Bench, has rendered a guilty verdict today on singer Tewodros Kassahun a.k.a ‘Teddy Afro’, on a hit and run charge stemming from 2006. The singer could face up to fifteen years in prison.

Teddy has been in jail for close to eight month. He was first detained briefly in November 2006, when the incident occurred and released on a 50,000 birr bail. He was later apprehended again by the police and taken to Kaliti prison facility, 25kms east of Addis Ababa.

Many are puzzled on why Teddy Afro was not charged until April this year, though the alleged car accident was over 2 years ago.

Many in Addis maintain that Teddy Afro is being framed because of his music’s perceived anti-government message. In one song, he accuses Ethiopia’s leaders of promising change, but bringing only “a new king.”

The singer’s controversial incarceration has spurred small protests, a rarity in this tightly controlled Horn of Africa country, and is fast becoming a national symbol of what some call Ethiopia’s latest democratic backsliding.

Sentencing will be this Friday.



Source: EthioPolitics

Related Posts by Labels