JURIST - Paper Chase: Ethiopia denies mass detentions of student protestors

[JURIST] Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi [BBC profile] has denied allegations [press release] from Amnesty International that the government has unlawfully detained thousands of protestors as part of the latest anti-government crackdown. Amnesty has said that thousands of students from the Orono ethnic group have been detained in connection with protests over last year's disputed elections [JURIST report] and that eleven of the detainees face a risk of torture or ill treatment. The Ethiopian Information Ministry [official website] responded by saying that the government has actually arrested a much smaller number on criminal charges for violent acts, and called the thousands of detainees number "misinforming and incredible". Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

Ethiopia election protesters challenge court jurisdiction
Ethiopian election protesters claim lawyers denied them
Ethiopian election protestors call hunger strike over continued detention
Ethiopia releases 2,400 election protestors from prison
Ethiopia ending ban on election protests
Ethiopia releases 2,600 election demonstrators from prison
Ethiopia releases 336 prisoners seized during elections unrest
Rights groups warns of killings, mass arrests in Ethiopia at vote fraud protests