The Ethiopian government released 38 members of the opposition from jail on Friday.
They were granted full pardons just four days after a court sentenced 30 of them - members of the opposition Coalition for Unity (CUD) - to life imprisonment after convicting them of trying to overthrow the government.
Reuters news agency reported that at a news conference announcing the releases, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that the decision "conveys that there is no sense of revenge by the government."
The agency said the prisoners were driven from prison in Addis Ababa in mini-buses, to the cheers of relatives and supporters. The capital is a stronghold of the CUD, and the city's mayor-elect elect and CUD member Berhanu Nega was among the prisoners.
The released opposition members were also granted the right to contest elections and the right to vote, rights that had been taken away when they were sentenced on Monday.
The Ethiopian government has come under international pressure to release the prisoners, who were arrested and charged after unrest following elections in 2005 which the international community widely condemned.
On Wednesday, the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health approved a bill calling for human rights reform in Ethiopia. The bill specifically called on President Bush to withhold assistance to Ethiopia until the prisoners were freed.
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"No one has been held liable for those crimes and political prisoners have been languishing in jail for two years," committee chairperson Donald M. Payne said on Wednesday. "If the government is serious about democracy, rule of law and accountability, it would hold accountable the security forces responsible for killing citizens and it would free the political prisoners who are only guilty of running from office and winning."
Meles strongly denied that pressure from Washington, and in particular Congress, had caused him to release and pardon the prisoners. "The Ethiopian government isn't willing and is unable to be run like a banana republic from Capitol Hill. Some individuals appear to be entertaining such illusions," he said.
Meles also made public a letter signed by the prisoners admitting they were guilty. The BBC reported that opposition leader Hailu Shawel said after his release that he had signed the document "under duress".
Four journalists were among the prisoners released. Reporters Without Borders voiced relief at their release, while also calling for two journalists - Zelalem Guebre and Abey Gizaw – who were tried and convicted to a life sentence in absentia, to be cleared of the charges against them.
Two Action Aid officials were not released today. According to the organization, they will continue their legal battle.
