Addis Ababa — A team of professionals from different organizations was set up yesterday to defend Yeshiwork Desta, an Ethiopian migrant worker sentenced to death in Bahrain at a meeting held in Ghion Hotel organized by EWLA.

President of EWLA Wzo Meaza Ashenafi said at the time of the crime Yeshiwork was 17 years and 10 months old-a minor-thereby, should not have been tried in a criminal court. Her mental state at that time should also have been another reason for her to be set free. Whether to stage a demonstrations or to be contented with the diplomatic effort was debated during the meeting.

"It could antagonize and affect the initiatives unfavorably if a demonstration shall be called," commented Dr. Fisseha Eshetu, President of Unity College.

Two recent returnees from Bahrain, also working as migrant workers there, told The Daily Monitor that the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was notified during the arrest of Yeshiwork by the Bahrain government two years ago. The informants told The Daily Monitor they did not understand why the Foreign Ministry did not act then when she was desperately in need of help. "I personally called to our embassy [Ethiopian] in Riyadh from Bahrain and tried to pressure them to do something", alleged the new arrival working as a housemaid in Bahrain. Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials could not be accessed to verify the matter. However, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry had announced earlier that it had sent an envoy to Bahrain in an initiative to recruit a defense attorney to represent Yeshiwork for an appeal which she was not able to do as she could not afford an appeal attorney when she was sentenced.