20091222

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An Ethiopian court sentenced five people to death on Tuesday and 33 others to life in prison for plotting to assassinate officials and topple the government.

Four of the five were sentenced in absentia while the fifth, opposition leader Melaku Tefera, was in court for the verdict.

"All were accused of conspiring to overthrow the constitutional government by force, to destroy development projects, to assassinate senior government officials and instigate the armed forces to rise against the constitutional order," a Justice Ministry spokesman told Reuters.

Ethiopia has not carried out any executions for years, and convicts sentenced to die typically languish on death row.

Among the four sentenced to death in absentia was Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen, Berhanu Nega, who teaches economics at Philadelphia's Bucknell University.

Berhanu was elected mayor of capital Addis Ababa in Ethiopia's last elections in 2005, but was jailed with other opposition leaders after disputing the government's victory in the election and were accused of orchestrating street protests.

Security forces killed about 200 protesters who Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said were marching on government buildings to overthrow him.

Berhanu was pardoned in 2007 and went to the United States where he set up his "May 15" opposition group named after the date of the 2005 election.

Addis Ababa says the group planned to blow up power and telecoms facilities to provoke protesters who would then march on government buildings and try to topple the government.

The arrests have worried rights groups, who say the Ethiopian government has been cracking down on dissent ahead of national elections next May.