“The court has given due considerations to the charges and the sentences are appropriate,” Judge Endeshaw Adane said during the proceedings in Addis Ababa.
The 20 were charged last year, most of them in absentia, with six counts including conspiracy to dismantle the constitutional order, recruitment and training for terror acts and aiding Eritrea and a rebel group to disrupt security.
They were also accused of belonging to Ginbot 7, a group branded a “terrorist” organisation by the Ethiopian government.
Another four people charged alongside them were not sentenced on Friday and were being treated as a separate case, said court officials.
Exiled opposition leader Berhanu Nega, was also jailed for life on charges of treason in the aftermath of 2005’s disputed parliamentary election, but was later pardoned.
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