Addis Ababa, July 20, 2007 – Ethiopia on Friday released 38 opposition figures, days after sparking an international outcry by slapping them with heavy jail terms over incidents that followed disputed 2005 polls.

The group was pardoned by President Girma Woldegiorgis on Thursday and witnesses and relatives told AFP that they were released from their prison in Kaliti, 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the capital.

"They have been freed and are heading to Addis," a witness said on condition of anonymity.

On Monday, Ethiopia's high court had slapped heavy jail terms on 43 opposition figures accused of seeking to "overthrow constitutional rule" in the aftermath of disputed 2005 legislative polls.

Thirty-five of them had received life sentences -- five of them in absentia -- while eight others had been given prison terms ranging from 18 months to 18 years. The group included four opposition journalists.

Moments before their release, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi himself held a news conference to announce that the group of 38 had been pardoned.

"The pardon is total. The persons concerned will be freed and their constitutional rights will be restored," Meles said.

He stressed nevertheless that they would be thrown back in jail if they did not "respect the constitution and the rule of law."

The pardon affects the 38 opposition figures who were physically present at their trial and signed a document asking for mercy, and not the five sentenced in absentia.

The sentences had triggered a barrage of international criticism.

The United States, a key foreign ally of Meles' regime, had urged clemency while foreign rights groups and press freedom organizations had condemned the sentences as outrageous and a setback for the country's democratic credentials.

US State Department spokesman Tom Casey hailed the move as a "breakthrough" and said it should be used to "advance dialogue on peace and democratic progress for the benefit of the people of Ethiopia."

The Ethiopian government said a day after the sentences were handed down that it was looking into pardon bids filed by the defendants in which they admitted to mistakes.

"They have recognized they did some mistakes and have committed themselves not to do it again and to respect the constitution and play by the rules of the game," Meles said.

The release of the opposition figures, who had been held since November 2006, was hailed in Ethiopia as a step towards ending the political crisis that has lasted since the contested elections.

Ephraim Isaac, the chairman of a council of elders that mediated for the release of the detained opposition members, held a press conference to thank the president.

"A solution was found in a traditional Ethiopian way to achieve national reconciliation," he said.

The council received the help of Haile Gebre Selassie, a national hero regarded by many as the greatest distance runner of all times.

"For the sake of peace we did what we had to do. For the last 18 months we've been working... So now we are very happy to have this beautiful and wonderful news," he told reporters.

The council added in a statement that they would continue to work for the release of other opposition supporters detained in 2005.

Meles also said the release of the opposition figures would "reinforce the democratic process in Ethiopia" if they stood by their commitments.

Among those who had been sentenced to life and were released on Friday were Hailu Shawl and Bernahu Nega, two senior leaders of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party.

The 2005 elections saw the Horn of Africa country's opposition make its largest gains but it claimed it was robbed of victory by widespread government-sponsored fraud.

Earlier this year, the Ethiopian parliament approved a report which said 193 civilians and six policemen died during the unrest in 2005 in one of the darkest chapters in the country's recent past.

Source: AFP