Ethiopia releases teenage girls who were imprisoned for sharing their faith

Ethiopian authorities have released the four teenage girls who were imprisoned in Babile last September for sharing their faith.

Martha Solomon Kebede, 18, Miheret Abera Mulat, 17, Gifti Dabesa Fekyisa, 17, and Eden Serawit Mekuria, 15, were freed on Dec. 15, almost three months after their initial arrest.

The four girls were initially arrested in September after they distributed a book called "Let's speak the truth in love: Answers to questions by Ahmed Deedat," which aims to answer questions about Christianity posed by the late Deedat, a well-known Islamic scholar.

Local Muslims, who considered the book to be an insult to Islam, went to attack the Protestant Meserete Kristos Church on Sept. 19.

According to International Christian Concern (ICC), the prosecutors demanded a jail term of 15 years for the girls, but it was overruled by a High Court Judge in Harar. The judge granted a release date of Oct., 1 but the girls were rearrested that same month.

A prosecutor renewed the request for the 15-year prison sentence before the Regional court of Adama, but the case was dismissed. The girls were rearrested again to face the local court in Babile. They were sentenced to one-month imprisonment and moved to a high-security prison in early November.

Mekuria said that she was beaten on her first night in prison, but a source said that the faith of the girls remained strong.

"This [suffering] is an honour for us. We should expect persecution. We are not afraid. We are singing and praying here in prison," Eden reportedly said.

During the court proceedings, local radicals allegedly threatened the girls' families. "We will burn your families alive," the mob reportedly shouted.

"I am worried what is going to happen to me once I get out. If I get out," Kebede told ICC.

Family and friends of the girls are also worried that the radicals follow through with their threats now that the girls are out of prison.

A federal government official who wished to remain anonymous noted that it is illegal to put minors in prison with adults.

Sara Solomon, ICC's Regional Manager, accused the local authorities of ignoring the Ethiopian Constitution and the decisions of the two higher courts. She called on the federal government to make sure that the constitution is being followed at the local level.

"These four girls' lives have already been disrupted and are now in imminent danger simply for sharing their faith. We hope that the girls and their families will be able to find safety and that similar incidents will be prevented in the future," she said.