Posts Tagged ‘Ethiopia’
August 11th, 2011
On July 17, an
Ethiopian court ruled that two journalists would
remain imprisoned for an additional 28 days, without access to legal counsel or charge. Woubshet Taye, from Awramba Times and Reeyot Alemu, from the Feteh newspaper, were
initially detained on June 19 and 21 respectively. The journalists were charged with “conspiracy to commit terrorism”, under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, adopted in 2009. In addition to Taye and Alemu, government officials accused members of the opposition party and five other individuals of the same violations.
July 5th, 2011
Swedish journalists, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, were arrested by troops in
Ethiopia when they were found travelling with rebels from the
Ogaden National Liberation Front. The Ethiopian government has branded the ONLF a terrorist organisation, 15 individuals were killed when the troops ambushed the group. The two freelancers entered the country to report about allegations of the torture and rape of locals. Schibbye and Persson are currently being treated for minor injuries and
could face trial later this week.
July 1st, 2011
Two journalists detained on 19 and 21 June are suspected by police to have planned terrorists acts in Ethiopia. The police chief
accused Woubishet Taye, from Awramba Times, and Reyot Alemu, from the Feteh newspaper, of recruiting others to undertake terrorism activities, with the support from Eritrea, and said the group will be charged upon completion of investigations. Amnesty international
reported that Ethiopia has often used such charges to silence dissenters and the Committee to Protect Journalists has called for their release.
September 10th, 2010
Opposition activists are urging people to
change their Facebook profile pictures to that of political prisoner
Birtukan Mideksa on 11 September. The opposition party leader is serving a life sentence after she was first arrested during
disputed elections in 2005. Mideksa was released after two years in prison, before being arrested again in 2008 after saying that her release was due to opposition pressure on the government. The protest has been timed to coincide with the beginning of the Ethiopian new year.
June 25th, 2010
Heather Murdock, a US journalist, has been
expelled from Ethiopia. Local reports suggest her work as an investigative journalist in the restive Ogaden province was the reason for her expulsion. There have been a number of recent skirmishes between government forces and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). Murdock had been working for the broadcaster
Voice of America (VOA) covering the aftermath of the general election. The Ethiopian government has recently enacted anti-terrorism legislation which empowers it to expel journalists which portray rebel groups in a favourable light and the authorities have been
blocking of Voice of America’s website and
jamming of its radio service in recent months.
March 30th, 2010
The Ethiopian government has been
accused of blocking the website of US broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) as a row over press intimidation continues to escalate in the Horn of Africa. Residents of the capital Addis Ababa have been unable to access the site since early on Sunday, reports Reuters. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s administration has yet to comment on the development. Earlier this month, the government accused the VOA radio service of broadcasting propaganda and revealed that it was
testing its ability to jam transmissions. Meles even compared the station to Radio Mille Collines, whose broadcasts were blamed for sparking the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
March 8th, 2010
Voice of America’s (VOA) Amharic-language radio broadcasts have been
blocked in Ethiopia. The Washington-based broadcaster has been informed by monitors that its news service in the East African state has been electronically-jammed, although it has not yet been able to identify the source. Ethiopia is preparing for a crucial parliament vote on 23 May and officials have described VOA as the “voice of the opposition”. The Ethiopian Communications Office has, however, denied any involvement.
February 3rd, 2010
Veteran Ethiopian journalist
Ezedin Mohamed, editor of Islamic paper Al Quds, was sentenced to one year in jail on the 30 January. According to CPJ, the sentence relates to Mohamed’s response to a 2008
Guardian interview with Meles Zenawi; Mohamad criticised the Prime Minister’s characterisation of the country as Orthodox Christian. Ezedin Mohamed and Al-Quds Publisher Maria Kadim were
previously jailed for two weeks in 2008, alongside Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, editor of another Islamic weekly Selafiyya for reporting on a government proposal to restrict the use of headscarves for Muslim girls in public schools.Ethiopia’s record on press freedom remains poor, Ali and
Asrat Wedajo, editor of the country’s largest Oromo language paper Seife Nebelbal before it was shut down in 2005, were subsequently sentenced to one year in prison in September 2009 for ‘coverage of sensitive topics’ (CPJ).
. Two Eritrean journalists, Saleh Idris Gama and Tesfalidet Kidane Tesfazghi, have also been detained without charge since they were captured in Somalia ‘on suspicion of terrorism’; the Ethiopian government has repeatedly declined to provide any information about the location, health or legal status of the two men.
