1 Dec 2011 | Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Uncategorized
In an horrific story that brings to mind the Soviets’ reworking of history, Yenesew Gebre, an Ethiopian citizen, a 29 year-old Ethiopian school teacher and human rights activist set himself ablaze outside a public meeting hall in the town of Tarcha located in Dawro Zone in Southern Ethiopia. He died three days later from his injuries. Later his sister and his father both claimed he had mental health issues (although no record exists of medication or treatment), and no-one was allowed to visit him in hospital. The death certificate, which was not signed by the official hospital coroner (who refused to sign it) stated blood poisoning as the cause of death. There are allegations that this was a faked death certificate.
Yenesew walked out of a public meeting on 11 November , saying the words “I want to show to all that death is preferable than a life without justice and liberty and I call upon my fellow compatriots to fear nothing and rise up to wrest their freedom and rights from the hands of the local and national tyrants.” He then set fire to himself. Yenesew was one of about 50 young men from the area who were protesting the reworking of civil boundaries, and were taking their case to federal courts, in the capital Addis Ababa.
President Meles Zenawi’s immediate response was to send in a reinforcement of some 300 police officers, and to impose a complete news blackout and seal off the town. Telephone services to the town were cut prevent all news of Yenesew’s sacrifice from spreading throughout Ethiopia. Yenesew was buried by police without his family being allowed to attend. Presumably the intention of preventing a public funeral and burying Yenesew in an unmarked grave was to divert attention from the young man’s actions.
This action takes place within the context of Ethiopia’s extremely poor human rights and freedom of expression record. After Eritrea, it is the area where most journalist alerts originate, according to International Federation of Journalists.
In addition to the six journalists held in custody without bail since June 2011, on 14 November, 24 people, including senior opposition politicians and an outspoken Internet journalist, were charged with with plotting terrorist acts to create public chaos. They are accused of violations of Ethiopia’s harsh anti-terrorism law, which has been criticised by human rights and press freedom groups.
1 Jul 2011 | Index Index, minipost
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.
20 Oct 2010 | Uncategorized
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published its ninth annual World Press Freedom Index today, with a mixed bag of what secretary-general Jean François Julliard calls “welcome surprises” and “sombre realities”.
Six countries, all in Europe, share the top spot this year — Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland — described as the “engines of press freedom”. But over half of the European Union’s member states lie outside the top 20, with some significantly lower entries, such as Romania in 52nd place and Greece and Bulgaria tied at 70th. The report expresses grave concerns that the EU will lose its status as world leader on human rights issues if so many of its members continue to fall down the rankings.
The edges of Europe fared particularly badly this year; Ukraine (131st) and Turkey (138th) have fallen to “historically low” rankings, and despite a rise of 13 places, Russia remains in the worst 25 per cent of countries at 140th. It ranks lower than Zimbabwe, which continues to make steady — albeit fragile — progress, rising to 123rd.
At the very bottom of the table lie Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan, as they have done since the index first began in 2002. Along with Yemen, China, Sudan, Syria, Burma and Iran, they makes up the group of worst offenders, characterised by “persecution of the media” and a “complete lack of news and information”. RSF says it is getting harder and harder to distinguish between these lowest ten countries, who continue to deteriorate. There are particular fears about the situation for journalists in Burma ahead of next month’s parliamentary election.
Another country creating cause for concern in the run-up to elections is Azerbaijan, falling six places to 152nd. Index on Censorship recently joined other organisations in a visit to Baku to assess the health of the country’s media. You can read about their findings in a joint mission report, ‘Free Expression under Attack: Azerbaijan’s Deteriorating Media Environment’, launching this Thursday, 28 October, 6.30 pm, at the Free Word Centre. Belarus, another country on which Index is campaigning, languishes at 154th.
It is worth noting, though, that relative press freedom rankings can only tell so much. Cuba, for example, has risen out of the bottom 20 countries for the first time, partly thanks to its release of 14 journalists and 22 activists this summer, but journalists still face censorship and repression “on a daily basis”. Similarly, countries such as South Korea and Gabon have climbed more than 20 places, only to return to the position they held before a particularly bad 2009. It seems, then, that the struggle for press freedom across the world must continue to be a “battle of vigilance”.
3 Feb 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
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.
