US contractor pleads guilty to feeding Ethiopia classified secrets in Tigray war
Abraham Teklu Lemma, an Ethiopian-born American contractor, admitted passing dozens of classified documents and satellite images to Ethiopian officials during the country's civil war. Prosecutors say he hoped the intelligence would help Ethiopia's military kill Tigray fighters. He faces up to 22 years behind bars.
A former US contractor has admitted handing highly classified American intelligence to Ethiopia, including material he hoped would help its military hunt down and kill fighters in the Tigray war. Abraham Teklu Lemma, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit national defence information to a foreign government, the US Department of Justice announced.
Prosecutors say Lemma spent more than two years feeding senior Ethiopian political, military and intelligence figures sensitive material — sometimes smuggling it out in handwritten notes. As an IT administrator, he also pulled electronic intelligence files straight from secure systems. The information moved through encrypted messages and included satellite imagery and details of military activity.
According to the FBI, Ethiopian officials went on to use what he supplied in military operations. Court papers show the stakes in his own words: in a December 2021 message, Lemma told an Ethiopian official, 'We have to finish these people once and for all, otherwise there will never be peace in Ethiopia.' He then pushed more intelligence across and urged: 'Please send Dro[nes].'
Lemma had worked as a contractor at the State Department, the Justice Department and the National Reconnaissance Office — the agency that runs US intelligence satellites. He was arrested in Maryland in August 2023 after an investigation into how he handled classified material. At the time, prosecutors alleged he stripped security markings off intelligence reports before sharing them with a foreign intelligence official.
US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said Lemma abused his access to some of America's most sensitive secrets and 'betrayed his oath, his colleagues, and his country, while jeopardizing our national security.' John Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general for national security, said he betrayed the US 'to an extraordinary degree.'
Lemma's plea deal carries a maximum of 22 years in prison. Sentencing is set for 14 April 2027. The classified handover lands against the backdrop of a brutal two-year conflict that began in November 2020, pitting Ethiopian federal forces and their allies against Tigrayan fighters. Hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced before a November 2022 peace deal ended the main fighting, though insecurity has lingered.
TopicsAbraham Teklu Lemma · Ethiopia · Tigray · US Department of Justice · FBI · National Reconnaissance Office · Jeanine Ferris Pirro · John Eisenberg
Source: bbc.co.uk
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