When the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took control of the capital, Addis Ababa on 28 May 1991, Amnesty International hailed the day as a “…break with the past” and an opportunity to put human rights protection at the top of the agenda for the future. However, as Ethiopians celebrate 25 years of EPRDF rule, they have suffered persistent and pervasive violations, in particular, of civil and political rights that has become a hallmark of the EPRDF government.
Showing posts with label HumanRight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HumanRight. Show all posts
Friday, June 3, 2016
Monday, May 16, 2016
New Report from State Department Details Widespread Human Rights Abuses in Ethiopia
Oakland, CA— “The US State Department report confirms that countless human rights abuses are being perpetrated by the Ethiopian Government,” said Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. “It also highlights appalling issues associated with Ethiopia’s criminal system, such as the use of torture, a weak and politically influenced judiciary, life-threatening prison conditions, and the use of electric shocks and beatings to extract confessions.”
The United States Department of State recently released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, including an in-depth account of the human rights situation in Ethiopia. The report confirmed many of the ongoing human rights violations that the Oakland Institute has detailed in Ethiopia, including: abuses associated with the Government’s villagization program; restrictions on basic freedoms of expression, assembly, association, movement, and religious affairs; restrictions on activities of civil society organizations; and more.
Caught in this horrific system are thousands of journalists, political opposition members, land rights defenders, students, and indigenous and religious leaders, who have been unlawfully detained and arrested under Ethiopia’s draconian Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.
Included in the State Department report are the cases of Ethiopian Muslim leaders, detained and charged under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation for participating in protests for religious freedom; and of land rights defenders Omot Agway Okwoy, Ashinie Astin, and Jamal Oumar Hojele who were arrested en route to a food security conference in Nairobi and charged under the Anti-Terrorism law.
Countless more stories were not included in the report, including that of indigenous Anuak leader Okello Akway Ochalla, who was abducted in South Sudan and forcibly taken to Ethiopia, in complete violation of extradition treaties and international law, for speaking out about abuses perpetrated against the people of Gambella, Ethiopia. On April 27, 2016, after more than two years in jail, Mr. Okello was handed a nine year prison sentence.
“Over the past years, countless indigenous communities have been evicted from their land to make way for large-scale land grabs in Ethiopia,” commented Mittal. “These displacements are happening without the free, prior, and informed consent of the impacted populations, and when communities resist, they are forcibly removed by means of violence, rape, imprisonment, and the denial of humanitarian assistance, including food aid. To make matters worse, the people who stand up and fight for the rights of those communities – people like Mr. Okello and Pastor Omot – are being jailed. This must stop.”
“Ethiopia is the United States’ closest ally in Africa and the second largest recipient of US overseas development assistance in Africa,” she continued. “In these unique roles, the US has both the power and the moral responsibility to ensure that basic human rights and the rule of law are upheld in the country. Through its report, the United States acknowledges the widespread human rights violations taking place in Ethiopia. The question is: when will the US finally do something to address this egregious situation?”
Friday, April 3, 2015
WHO to probe representative to Thailand for maid abuse
24-year-old Ethiopian maid accuses Word Health Organization official’s family of detaining, abusing her.
The Word Health Organization (WHO) will investigate its representative in Thailand following allegations that he and his wife treated a 24-year-old Ethiopian maid as a “slave,” local media reported Friday.
The WHO also hinted that it could lift the diplomatic immunity of Ethiopian national Dr. Yonas Tegegn if necessary to allow justice to proceed.
“Some immunities are granted to WHO staff members to facilitate the proper exercise of their functions. However, these immunities can be waived by the organization when they may impede the proper administration of justice,” the organization said in a statement released Thursday.
The young maid, known as “Annet” as her real name has not been made public, escaped from Tegegn’s house in a Bangkok suburb last month and filed complaints at a police station, accusing her employers of mistreatment.
The Lawyers Council of Thailand, who came to her aid, claimed at a press conference Wednesday that Annet was used as a “slave” by Tegegn and his wife, who detained and abused her.
An orphan from the Amhara group in Ethiopia, Annet was recruited through her uncle by the WHO official’s family in July 2013.
She had been promised a monthly salary of $92 and weekend holidays. She claims, however, that she has never been paid her wages and that the official only sent $250 to her uncle after her first five months of work.
She also said she worked from 5 a.m. to midnight every day of the week, and was deprived of her passport, regularly beaten by the official’s wife, and forced to sleep in a small room without a fan with the family’s large pet dog.
Since January, the military-run Thai government has launched a campaign to fight human trafficking and human rights abuses against migrant workers, following the kingdom’s downgrade to the lowest level in the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report last year.
Most of the human rights abuses against migrant workers occur in the fishing industry, where Myanmar and Cambodian migrants are forced to work without payment under slave-like conditions on trawlers in international waters off the Gulf of Thailand.
While the issue of the mistreatment of domestic workers has sometimes made headlines in Thailand, it is less common than in neighboring Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Source: www.turkishweekly.net
The Word Health Organization (WHO) will investigate its representative in Thailand following allegations that he and his wife treated a 24-year-old Ethiopian maid as a “slave,” local media reported Friday.
The WHO also hinted that it could lift the diplomatic immunity of Ethiopian national Dr. Yonas Tegegn if necessary to allow justice to proceed.
“Some immunities are granted to WHO staff members to facilitate the proper exercise of their functions. However, these immunities can be waived by the organization when they may impede the proper administration of justice,” the organization said in a statement released Thursday.
The young maid, known as “Annet” as her real name has not been made public, escaped from Tegegn’s house in a Bangkok suburb last month and filed complaints at a police station, accusing her employers of mistreatment.
The Lawyers Council of Thailand, who came to her aid, claimed at a press conference Wednesday that Annet was used as a “slave” by Tegegn and his wife, who detained and abused her.
An orphan from the Amhara group in Ethiopia, Annet was recruited through her uncle by the WHO official’s family in July 2013.
She had been promised a monthly salary of $92 and weekend holidays. She claims, however, that she has never been paid her wages and that the official only sent $250 to her uncle after her first five months of work.
She also said she worked from 5 a.m. to midnight every day of the week, and was deprived of her passport, regularly beaten by the official’s wife, and forced to sleep in a small room without a fan with the family’s large pet dog.
Since January, the military-run Thai government has launched a campaign to fight human trafficking and human rights abuses against migrant workers, following the kingdom’s downgrade to the lowest level in the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report last year.
Most of the human rights abuses against migrant workers occur in the fishing industry, where Myanmar and Cambodian migrants are forced to work without payment under slave-like conditions on trawlers in international waters off the Gulf of Thailand.
While the issue of the mistreatment of domestic workers has sometimes made headlines in Thailand, it is less common than in neighboring Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Source: www.turkishweekly.net
Foreign Secretary Refuses to Request Death-Row Brit’s Release
LONDON - The Foreign Secretary is refusing to request the release of a British citizen who was kidnapped and rendered to Ethiopia over nine months ago, it’s emerged.
Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege, a father of three from London, has been held at a secret location in Ethiopia since he was abducted in June 2014 while in transit at Sanaa airport, Yemen. A prominent critic of human rights abuses in Ethiopia, Mr Tsege faces a death sentence imposed in absentia in 2009. The Ethiopian government has refused to say whether it will carry out the sentence or not, and has refused requests to visit Mr Tsege in prison by his family, British officials, and lawyers at human rights organization Reprieve.
The Foreign Office has told lawyers from Reprieve and law firm Leigh Day – which are assisting Mr Tsege’s family – that instead of requesting his release, it will press Ethiopia to follow ‘due process’. The Foreign Secretary is also refusing to treat Mr Tsege’s ordeal as a kidnapping and torture case, though internal Foreign Office emails unearthed earlier this year noted the ‘real risk of torture’ faced by Mr Tsege in Ethiopia, and revealed that British officials believed Ethiopia’s actions to be unlawful.
Mr Tsege has not been seen since December 19 2014, when the British government was granted a brief and heavily monitored meeting. Since his disappearance, the Ethiopian state broadcaster has aired several videos of him in detention looking gaunt and tired, raising concerns that he may be being tortured. According to a 2013 report by Human Rights Watch, such mistreatment is routine in Ethiopian prisons – particularly in jails holding the government’s perceived opponents, such as Mr Tsege.
Maya Foa, head of Reprieve’s death penalty team, said: “The UK’s failure to even ask for Andy Tsege’s release over the past nine months is nothing short of a scandal. We’re talking about the illegal kidnap, rendition and possible torture of a British citizen – and a father of young children – by a government that had already sentenced him to death on trumped up, politically-motivated charges. The government of Ethiopia is supposed to be a close ally, but its refusal to reveal where Andy is being held, or how he’s being treated, shows only contempt for the UK, and for Andy’s rights. The Foreign Office must change course and demand Andy is returned to his family in London, before it’s too late.”
Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege, a father of three from London, has been held at a secret location in Ethiopia since he was abducted in June 2014 while in transit at Sanaa airport, Yemen. A prominent critic of human rights abuses in Ethiopia, Mr Tsege faces a death sentence imposed in absentia in 2009. The Ethiopian government has refused to say whether it will carry out the sentence or not, and has refused requests to visit Mr Tsege in prison by his family, British officials, and lawyers at human rights organization Reprieve.
The Foreign Office has told lawyers from Reprieve and law firm Leigh Day – which are assisting Mr Tsege’s family – that instead of requesting his release, it will press Ethiopia to follow ‘due process’. The Foreign Secretary is also refusing to treat Mr Tsege’s ordeal as a kidnapping and torture case, though internal Foreign Office emails unearthed earlier this year noted the ‘real risk of torture’ faced by Mr Tsege in Ethiopia, and revealed that British officials believed Ethiopia’s actions to be unlawful.
Mr Tsege has not been seen since December 19 2014, when the British government was granted a brief and heavily monitored meeting. Since his disappearance, the Ethiopian state broadcaster has aired several videos of him in detention looking gaunt and tired, raising concerns that he may be being tortured. According to a 2013 report by Human Rights Watch, such mistreatment is routine in Ethiopian prisons – particularly in jails holding the government’s perceived opponents, such as Mr Tsege.
Maya Foa, head of Reprieve’s death penalty team, said: “The UK’s failure to even ask for Andy Tsege’s release over the past nine months is nothing short of a scandal. We’re talking about the illegal kidnap, rendition and possible torture of a British citizen – and a father of young children – by a government that had already sentenced him to death on trumped up, politically-motivated charges. The government of Ethiopia is supposed to be a close ally, but its refusal to reveal where Andy is being held, or how he’s being treated, shows only contempt for the UK, and for Andy’s rights. The Foreign Office must change course and demand Andy is returned to his family in London, before it’s too late.”
Source:www.commondreams.org
WEALTH AND FREEDOM IN ETHIOPIA (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
(The Wall Street Journal) As Ethiopia opens its economy to western investors, its political system is becoming more closed, human rights organizations say.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Donor Dollars aiding political repression in Ethiopia
By Graham Peebles
An ideological poison is polluting all life within Ethiopia, flowing into every area of civil society. Local governance, urban and rural neighbourhoods, farming, education and the judiciary all are washed in Revolutionary Democracy’, the doctrine of the ruling party. Human Rights Watch (HRW) in their detailed report ‘Development without Freedom’ (DWF) quote Ethiopia’s Prime Minister for the last twenty years Meles Zenawi explaining that “when Revolutionary Democracy permeates the entire society, individuals will start to think alike and all persons will cease having their own independent outlook. In this order, individual thinking becomes simply part of collective thinking because the individual will not be in a position to reflect on concepts that have not been prescribed by Revolutionary Democracy.” A society of automatons is the EPRDF vision, The Borg Collective in the Horn of Africa, men women and children of the seventy or so tribal groups of Ethiopia all dancing to one repressive tune sung by the ruling EPRDF.
Dollars and nonsense
Ethiopia receives around $3 billion dollars in long-term development aid each year (second only to Indonesia); this is more than a third of the country’s total annual budget. Funds and resources donated to support the needy, in the hands of the Zenawi regime are being employed as a means of manipulating the Ethiopian people along partisan ideological lines. HRW states in DWF, “the Ethiopian government is using development aid as a tool of political repression by conditioning access to essential government services on support for the ruling party.”
The EPRDF has complete control of funds donated to Ethiopia by the Development Assistance Group (DAG), a consortium of the main donors, including the World Bank, USA, the European Commission and Britain. The government holds the purse strings of every dollar and cent allocated for the four major areas of development work: Protection of Basic Services (PBS), the Productive Safety Net Programme, Public Sector Capacity Building and the General Education Quality Improvement.
The largest single donor is the USA, which in 2011 according to US state department figures “provided $847 million in assistance, including more than $323 million in food aid.” The European Commission gives 400 million and Britain, via the Department Foreign Investment and Development (DFID) has committed £331million ($516million) per year until 2015. The British taxpayers’ pounds according to DFID “will meet the needs of the very poorest and support proven results-driven programmes that will bring healthcare, education and water to millions of people.” Well intentioned perhaps, however in attempting to ‘meet the needs of the very poorest’, as DFID claim, HRW research found that all international development aid, “flows through, and directly supports, a virtual one-party state with a deplorable human rights record, [whose] practices include jailing and silencing critics and media, enacting laws to undermine human rights activity, and hobbling the political opposition.” Facts well known to donors, who are content it seems to allow, indeed support the politicization of aid, a catalogue of human rights violations and the widespread suppression of the people,forced to live in an ideological straight jacket fastened tight by agents of the Zenawi government, at national, regional and community level.
Conditional support
The EPRDF government controls all areas of government and civil society in Ethiopia, from the judiciary to the classroom, the media to the farm, telecommunication and the banks.
The EPRDF controls all areas of government and civil society in Ethiopia, from the judiciary to the classroom, the media to the farm, telecommunication and the banks. Its reach into urban neighborhoods and rural communities was greatly increased before the 2008 elections, when the number of seats in the woreda and kebele were expanded from 15 to 300. Only the EPRDF was able to field candidates in all councils and with opposition parties largely boycotting the unfair elections, the EPRDF ‘won’ over 99.9% of the seats, meaning as HRW state “the ruling party had total control of the rural majority of the Ethiopian population.”
Through the regional offices of the woreda and kebele the government exercises its ability to control ordinary rural and urban Ethiopians; it is here that the administration of daily life takes place. Local offices approve or reject, applications from farmers for seeds and fertilizer, decide on micro credit support, distribute food to the needy (10 – 20 million rely on food aid), allocate education and employment opportunities, issue business permits and ID cards. The result, as HRW state is “state/party officials have significant influence over the livelihoods of citizens.” An understatement, in fact they govern all aspects of life, within the city or the village, for the teacher or the judge, the women seeking to start a small business, or the Mother desperate to feed her family. All are at the mercy of government officials.
Emergency food relief is given as part of the PBS program, a highly expensive complex development scheme, which assigns around $1 billion a year reports HRW, in a “block grant to the federal government,” they disperse the funds through their kebele’s and woreda offices. Distribution is based not on need, but on political association, support the opposition groups in Ethiopia and find your name scratched from the food aid list and go hungry, HRW found “the partisan allocation of food aid, [is] a problem that has been anecdotally reported in many areas and over many years in Ethiopia, especially in recent years in Somali region.” Such political discrimination of food aid distribution is not only immoral; it is in violation of international law. Farmers who Express dissent towards the government have the agricultural seeds and fertilizer needed to grow crops for their family and community withheld, voice concern over local governance as a teacher and find your career destroyed and your job taken away. HRW found “the EPRDF controls every woreda in the country, and can discriminate against any household or kebele within these administrative areas.” Given such repressive illegal actions it is inexplicable that the DFID in its Plan For Ethiopia (PFE) state the government shows “a strong commitment to fight corruption.” What the EPRDF shows is a strong commitment to suppress dissent, silence all critical voices and control the people utterly.
Big Ethiopian brother
Ethiopia is a one party state, with no freedom of speech, or assembly nor freedom of the media and where opposition forces critical of the government are silenced in the most brutal fashion. It is puzzling then, that the DFID (PFE) states, “Ethiopia has also made some progress toward establishing a functioning democracy,” It is certainly not an image of democracy recognizable to anyone who holds human rights and freedom of expression central to such an ideal and is contradicted by USAID’s statement in its Strategy Plan for Ethiopia where they acknowledge the“$13 million+ that USAID/Ethiopia invested between 2006 and 2010 specifically to promote democratic transition produced little in the way of tangible results, and specific programs have been the subject of stalling and even outright hostility.” The DFID however, go on to compound the misrepresentation asserting, “Ethiopia has achieved a strong degree of political stability through decentralized regional government.” If by ‘stability’ the DFID mean lack of popular resistance to imposed governance, through the fearful subjugation of the people, then yes this the EPRDF has succeeded in doing.
Opposition to the government is not tolerated nor is there decentralized governance, as Thomas Staal, USAID Mission Director to Ethiopia recently stated, and “the [Ethiopian] government wants to be able to control political space very carefully The kebele, woreda and sub kebele’s are extensions of central government, carrying out the divisive partisan policies of the EPRDF, the sole expression of democratic principles in Ethiopia are those found within constitutional articles, that sit neatly filed upon ministerial shelves, collecting dust, as HRW make clear “democracy [is] a hollow concept in a country steered by a powerful party-driven government in which the distinction between party and state is almost impossible to define.” And In their report “One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure Violations of Freedom of Expression and Association in Ethiopia“ HRW echo USAID’s comment, observing that “despite the lip service given to democracy and human rights, respect for core civil and political rights such as freedom of expression and association in Ethiopia is deteriorating.” DFID officials it seems have been duped by a plethora of conformist federal laws and signatures to multiple international treatises, into accepting the word of a government that terrifies its people and tramples on international human rights law.
Partisan monitoring
Not only are all key development programs implemented by the EPRDF, but also monitoring is also undertaken in partnership with government agencies. Objective accurate monitoring is essential in determining the effectiveness of development programs; it is difficult to see how unbiased data can be collected under such highly restrictive circumstances. HRW makes the point that “donors should recognize that Ethiopia’s own accountability systems are moribund, and that the principal barrier to detecting distortion is the Ethiopian government.” Their view that independent monitoring “is needed (without the participation of the Ethiopian Government)” is clearly correct and the bare minimum donors should insist on.
In its wisdom however, the DFID – a key donor, whilst recognizing the importance of monitoring appears happy to rely on the Ethiopian government, in which they naively invest such trust. They plan to “continue to monitor progress using national data drawn from administrative and survey sources,” i.e. the Ethiopian government. This demonstration of neglect by the DFID is an abdication of duty not only to British taxpayers, but also to the people of Ethiopia, who the EPRDF, with the help of international donors, continue to suppress and intimidate. They cannot and should not be trusted, HRW Deputy Director Jan England’s Open Letter to DFID Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell makes this plain, “the Ethiopian government is extremely resistant to scrutiny the British government and other donors to Ethiopia should not allow the Ethiopian government to dictate the terms on which British public money is monitored, and every effort should be made to prevent British development aid from strengthening authoritarian rule and repression.”
Ideological imposition
At the core of the EPRDF’s suppression and disregard for human rights is an ideological obsession. Revolutionary Democracy. Evangelical party political indoctrination takes place in within schools, teacher training institutions, the civil service and the judiciary. All contrary to international law, the Ethiopian constitution and federal laws, composed to conform to universal legal standards, conveniently cited by politician and diplomats, ignored and unenforced they mean nothing to the people.
School children above grade 10 (aged 15/16 years) are required to attend training sessions in the party ideology, policies on economic development, land sales and education. Admission to university, although not legally the case is implicitly dependent upon membership of the party, HRW found “students were under the impression that they needed party membership cards to gain admission to university.” The EPRDF stamp is also required to secure government jobs after graduation. All teachers, civil servants and judges are under pressure to tow the party line, to join the EPRDF and follow its doctrine, failure to do so impacts on employment and career prospects. Ethiopia’s largest donor, the USA, in the State Department human rights country report for 2011 notes, “Students in schools and universities were indoctrinated in the core precepts of the ruling EPDRF party’s concept of “revolutionary democracy…. the ruling party “stacks” student enrolment at Addis Ababa University… Authorities did not permit teachers at any level to deviate from official lesson plans and actively prohibited partisan political activity and association of any kind.”
Educational brainwashing of course contravenes the Ethiopian constitution, which clearly states in Article 90/2 “Education shall be provided in a manner that is free from any religious influence, political partisanship or cultural prejudice.” Words, righteous and legally binding are of no concern to Zenawi, his ministers, foreign diplomats and the cadres or spies who patrol the city neighbourhoods, university campus and civil service offices, infiltrate villages and towns of rural Ethiopia intimidating and blackmailing the people. International donors however, should be deeply concerned and take urgent actions to stop such violations of national and international law and the politicisation of aid distribution including emergency food relief.
Mixed Motives distorted action
Western governments reasons for providing development aid to Ethiopia are both humanitarian and strategic, USAID in its country plan, calls Ethiopia “the most strategically important partner in the region,” and the DFID states, “Ethiopia matters to the UK for a range of development, foreign policy and security reasons.”
Regional stability and the ‘fight against terrorism’ is cited as justification for continuing to support the EPRDF, in spite of extensive human rights abuses, the partisan distribution of aid and state terrorism. In fact, far from bringing stability to the area, the Zenawi regime is a cause of instability, this Anna Gomez makes plain “the Al-Shabab militia [Islamist group in Somalia] have only grown stronger [emphasis mine] and survival has been made more difficult since Ethiopian troops invaded in 2006, at the behest of George W. Bush.”
With conflicting interests, some might say corrupt and corrupting, donor countries find themselves funding a deeply repressive violent regime, enabling a coordinated policy of ideological indoctrination to take place, as HRW found “the government has used donor-supported programs, salaries, and training opportunities as political weapons to control the population, punish dissent, and undermine political opponents” Western donors silence and complicity in the face of such violations of international law is as Anna Gomez rightly says in the Bureau of Investigative Journalism 4th August 2011 “letting down all those who fight for justice and democracy and increasing the potential for conflict in Ethiopia and in Africa.”
The politicization and manipulation of aid distribution by the EPRDF violates international law and all standards of moral decency. Those providing aid must take urgent action to ensure this illegal practice comes to an end. Donors are well aware of the human rights abuses taking place, but have turned a blind eye to the repression of civil and political rights and a deaf ear to the cries of the many for justice and freedom. Western governments silence amounts to collusion; it is a gross misuse of taxpayer’s money and a betrayal, of international human rights laws and the Ethiopian people.
Graham is Director of The Create Trust, a UK registered charity, supporting fundamental social change and the human rights of individuals in acute need.
Source: mwcnews.net
Friday, March 20, 2015
እሥረኞቹ የፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎች የቀድሞ መሪዎች የእምነት ክሕደት ቃል ሰጡ
በነዘላለም ወርቅአገኘሁ የክሥ ዶሴ በሽብርተኝነት የተከሰሱት የተቃዋሚ ፓርቲ መሪዎች የእምነት ክህደት ቃላቸውን እንዲሰጡ በዳኞች ሲታዘዙ “አሸባሪዎች እኛ ሳንሆን አሸባሪው ሕወሃት-ኢህአዴግ ነው” አሉ።
የፌዴራሉ ከፍተኛ ፍርድ ቤት አሥራ ዘጠነኛ ወንጀል ችሎት ዛሬ በዋለው ችሎት ለሁሉም ተከሣሾች “ድርጊቱን አልፈፀምንም” በሚል ቃላቸውን እንደመዘገበ ገልጿል።
ፍርድ ቤቱ የአቃቤ ሕግ ምሥክሮች የሚቀርቡበትንም ቀን ቀጠሮ ሰጥቷል።
ለተጨማሪ የተያያዘውን የድምፅ ፋይል ያዳምጡ፡፡
source:amharic.voanews.com
Is violent change inevitable in Ethiopia?
As the Ethiopian government intensifies its violent suppression of the populace in the lead up to the illusion of national elections in May, there are many within the country and in the diaspora who believe a popular armed uprising is the only way to bring about change in the country.
The people’s frustration and anger towards the government is understandable as is their bewilderment at the neglect and complicity of Ethiopia’s major donors. America, the European Union and Britain collectively give almost half of Ethiopia’s federal budget in various aid packages and are well aware of the regime’s brutal form of governance but shamefully do and say nothing.
Old habits
The ruling regime, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), came to power in 1992 when they overthrew the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE). The ideologically-driven group of freedom fighters led by Meles Zenawi ousted the military dictatorship and drew up a new liberal constitution based on democratic principles of freedom and human rights. Once enthroned in Addis Ababa, however, they swiftly followed in their predecessor’s repressive footsteps and all democratic ideals where neatly filed away, to be forgotten about.
The government has imprisoned almost all major opposition leaders, as well as large numbers of troublesome journalists. An array of repressive laws has been passed to suffocate dissent and virtually criminalise freedom of expression and assembly – all contrary to their own constitution and in violation of a plethora of international conventions which they have dutifully signed up to.
With the major opposition party leaders behind bars and the regime maintaining total control of the electoral process, the result of the forthcoming May election is a forgone conclusion. It is a hollow piece of democratic theatre, which the EU has refused to legitimise with a team of observers, a mistake in my view, but understandable given the distorted result of the past two elections which the EU observed but did not validate.
Unite and act
Given the repressive picture in the country and the regime’s total intransigence, the frustration of huge numbers of people inside and outside the country is unsurprising.
But is an armed uprising the way forward? Would it be successful in ousting the ruling regime, or would there be a tightening of repressive legislation: the “rebel group” branded as terrorists, large numbers of deaths and arrests, and perhaps a long-drawn-out civil war igniting conflicts between one ethnic group and another? Is violence and hate ever the way to counter violence and hate? Not according to Martin Luther King, who presided over a largely peaceful civil rights movement in America, against an extremely violent, not to say ignorant, adversary. “Darkness,” he said, “cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
That other giant of non-violence, Mohandas Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement, undermined the British, united the population and was crucial in bringing about independence in India. As the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has said, his His legacy is vital “in today’s world where the rights of too many people are still violated”. So is his means of achieving his goal.
As with all repressive regimes, the EPRDF follows a systematic methodology of divide and rule, so the answer to such crude means of control is unity.
We are living in unprecedented times, times of tremendous opportunity and potential change. The days are numbered for regimes like the EPRDF – it is a question of when they collapse, not if.
The people of Ethiopia, and those who make up the diaspora in Europe, America and elsewhere, need to come together, and overcome their apathy and fear, organise themselves and take responsibility for their own destiny, be creative, be heartened and learn from movements in Tunisia, Hong Kong, Egypt, Turkey, Brazil and elsewhere. They need to be inspired by the strategicactions successfully employed in the non-violent struggle led by Gandhi, and find the courage to act peacefully, to unite against what is a brutal group of men who are despised by the people and have no legitimacy to govern Ethiopia, and act with love not hate, to bring lasting change to their country.
source: mwcnews.net
source: mwcnews.net
Saturday, March 14, 2015
A case study from the 2014 Human Rights and Democracy Report.
We were concerned about continuing restrictions on press freedoms and freedom of expression in Ethiopia in 2014, including through use of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP). Those detained under the ATP include members of opposition groups, journalists, peaceful protesters, and others seeking to exercise freedom of assembly or expression.
In July, seven bloggers from the “Zone 9” group and three journalists were charged under the ATP. The case is ongoing. In October, the prominent journalist and editor, Temesgen Dessalegn, was sentenced to three years in prison. He is appealing his conviction whilst in detention. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 17 journalists were held in detention in 2014 – up from seven in 2013, and the fourth highest number in the world. CPJ also believes that more than 30 journalists fled Ethiopia in 2014. The Ethiopian government stated that the journalists may return, and that it has no intention of charging them.
In June, up to twenty journalists from the Oromia Radio and Television Organisation were dismissed, allegedly in relation to their critical views on student protests in the region. In August, five magazines and one newspaper ceased publication following the government’s decision to charge them under the Criminal Code in August. Studies by the Open Net Initiative and Freedom House have shown that access to electronic media is restricted. Dozens of websites, including international news sites, which feature critical content or cover sensitive political issues, have been either intermittently or permanently blocked. Other factors that work against a free media environment include challenges for private sector publishers to access affordable and reliable printing presses, and a lack of professional training for journalists. We have raised concerns about restrictions on media freedoms at the highest levels of the Ethiopian government. In September, at the UN HRC’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) we recommended that Ethiopia take concrete steps to ensure that the 2015 elections are more representative and participative than those in 2010, including by encouraging open debate among political parties. Ethiopia accepted this recommendation and we are waiting to see what action they will take.
The UK also raised these issues regularly at the most senior levels of the Ethiopian government. We continue to attend trials which have implications for press freedom, in order to assess whether they meet international fair trial standards. In May and July, the EU issued joint statements reiterating the importance of political space and freedom of expression. The EU called for due process and respect for human rights regarding the detention of the “Zone 9” bloggers, journalists, and opposition figures.
Freedom of expression is a core characteristic of any democracy. The UK believes that a more open environment, in which press freedoms are protected, will strengthen democratic accountability and contribute to Ethiopia’s long-term stability.
Source: www.gov.uk
Monday, March 9, 2015
Ethiopia: Digital Attacks Intensify
(New York) – The Ethiopian government has renewed efforts to silence independent voices abroad by using apparent foreign spyware, Human Rights Watch said today. The Ethiopian authorities should immediately cease digital attacks on journalists, while foreign surveillance technology sellers should investigate alleged abuses linked to their products.
Independent researchers at the Toronto-based research center Citizen Lab on March 9, 2015, reported new attempts by Ethiopia to hack into computers and accounts of Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) employees based in the United States. The attacks bear similarities to earlier attempts to target Ethiopian journalists outside Ethiopia dating back to December 2013. ESAT is an independent, diaspora-run television and radio station.
“Ethiopia’s government has over the past year intensified its assault on media freedom by systematically trying to silence journalists,” saidCynthia Wong, senior Internet researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These digital attacks threaten journalists’ ability to protect the safety of their sources and to avoid retaliation.”
The government has repressed independent media in Ethiopia ahead of the general elections scheduled for May, Human Rights Watch said. Many privately owned print publications heavily self-censor coverage of politically sensitive issues or have shut down. In the last year, at least 22 journalists, bloggers, and publishers have been criminally charged, at least six publications have closed amid a campaign of harassment, and many journalists have fled the country.
Many Ethiopians turn to ESAT and other foreign stations to obtain news and analysis that is independent of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. However, intrusive surveillance of these news organizations undermines their ability to protect sources and further restricts the media environment ahead of the elections. Government authorities have repeatedly intimidated, harassed, and arbitrarily detained sources providing information to ESAT and other foreign stations.
Citizen Lab’s analysis suggests the attacks were carried out with spyware called Remote Control System (RCS) sold by the Italian firm Hacking Team, which sells surveillance and hacking technology. This spyware was allegedly used in previous attempts to infect computers of ESAT employees in December 2013. If successfully installed on a target’s computer, the spyware would allow a government controlling the software access to activity on a computer or phone, including email, files, passwords typed into the device, contact lists, and audio and video from the device’s microphone and camera.
Citizen Lab also found that the spyware used in the attacks against ESAT appeared to have been updated as recently as December 2014. On November 19, a security researcher, Claudio Guarnieri, along with several nongovernmental organizations, publicly released a tool called Detekt, which can be used to scan computers for Hacking Team RCS and other spyware. Citizen Lab’s testing determined that Detekt was able to successfully recognize the version of RCS used in a November attack, but not the version used in a December attack. Citizen Lab concluded that this may indicate that the software had been updated sometime between the two attempts.
These new findings, if accurate, raise serious concerns that Hacking Team has not addressed evidence of abuseof its product by the Ethiopian government and may be continuing to facilitate that abuse through updates or other support, Human Rights Watch said.
Hacking Team states that it sells exclusively to governments, particularly law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The firm told Human Rights Watch in 2014 that “we expect our clients to behave responsibly and within the law as it applies to them” and that the firm will suspend support for its technology if it believes the customer has used it “to facilitate gross human rights abuses” or “who refuse to agree to or comply with provisions in [the company’s] contracts that describe intended use of HT [Hacking Team] software.” Hacking Team has also stated that it has suspended support for their product in the past, in which case the “product soon becomes useless.”
Media reports and research by independent human rights organizations in the past year have documented serious human rights violations by the Ethiopian government that at times have been facilitated by misuse of surveillance powers. Although spyware companies market their products as “lawful intercept” solutions used to fight serious crime or counterterrorism, the Ethiopian government has abused its counterterrorism laws to prosecute bloggers and journalists who merely report on public affairs or politically sensitive issues. Ethiopian laws that authorize surveillance do not adequately protect the right to privacy, due process, and other basic rights, and are inconsistent with international human rights requirements.
Hacking Team previously told Human Rights Watch that “to maintain their confidentiality” the firm does not “confirm or deny the existence of any individual customer or their country location.” On February 25, 2015, Human Rights Watch wrote to the firm to ask whether it has investigated possible abuse of its products by the Ethiopian government to target independent media and hack into ESAT computers. In response, on March 6 a representative of the firm emailed Human Rights Watch that the company “take[s] precautions with every client to assure that they do not abuse our systems, and, we investigate when allegations of misuse arise” and that the firm is “attempting to understand the circumstances in this case.” The company also stated that “it can be quite difficult to get to actual facts particularly since we do not operate surveillance systems in the field for our clients.” Hacking Team raised unspecified questions about the evidence presented to identify the spyware used in these attacks.
Human Rights Watch also asked the company whether contractual provisions to which governmental customers agree address governments’ obligations under international human rights law to protect the right to privacy, freedom of expression, and other human rights. In a separate March 7 response from the firm’s representative, Hacking Team told Human Rights Watch that the use of its technology is “governed by the laws of the countries of our clients,” and sales of its technology are regulated by the Italian Economics Ministry under the Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export controls regime for dual-use technologies. The company stated that it relies “on the International community to enforce its standards for human rights protection.”
The firm has not reported on what, if any, investigation was undertaken in response to the March 2014 Human Rights Watch report discussing how spyware that appeared to be Hacking Team’s RCS was used to target ESAT employees in 2013. In its March 7 response, the company told Human Rights Watch that it will “take appropriate action depending on what we can determine,” but they “do not report the results of our investigation to the press or other groups, because we consider this to be an internal business matter.”
Without more disclosure of how Hacking Team has addressed potential abuses linked to its business, the strength of its human rights policy will be in question, Human Rights Watch said.
Independent researchers at the Toronto-based research center Citizen Lab on March 9, 2015, reported new attempts by Ethiopia to hack into computers and accounts of Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) employees based in the United States. The attacks bear similarities to earlier attempts to target Ethiopian journalists outside Ethiopia dating back to December 2013. ESAT is an independent, diaspora-run television and radio station.
“Ethiopia’s government has over the past year intensified its assault on media freedom by systematically trying to silence journalists,” saidCynthia Wong, senior Internet researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These digital attacks threaten journalists’ ability to protect the safety of their sources and to avoid retaliation.”
The government has repressed independent media in Ethiopia ahead of the general elections scheduled for May, Human Rights Watch said. Many privately owned print publications heavily self-censor coverage of politically sensitive issues or have shut down. In the last year, at least 22 journalists, bloggers, and publishers have been criminally charged, at least six publications have closed amid a campaign of harassment, and many journalists have fled the country.
Many Ethiopians turn to ESAT and other foreign stations to obtain news and analysis that is independent of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. However, intrusive surveillance of these news organizations undermines their ability to protect sources and further restricts the media environment ahead of the elections. Government authorities have repeatedly intimidated, harassed, and arbitrarily detained sources providing information to ESAT and other foreign stations.
Citizen Lab’s analysis suggests the attacks were carried out with spyware called Remote Control System (RCS) sold by the Italian firm Hacking Team, which sells surveillance and hacking technology. This spyware was allegedly used in previous attempts to infect computers of ESAT employees in December 2013. If successfully installed on a target’s computer, the spyware would allow a government controlling the software access to activity on a computer or phone, including email, files, passwords typed into the device, contact lists, and audio and video from the device’s microphone and camera.
Citizen Lab also found that the spyware used in the attacks against ESAT appeared to have been updated as recently as December 2014. On November 19, a security researcher, Claudio Guarnieri, along with several nongovernmental organizations, publicly released a tool called Detekt, which can be used to scan computers for Hacking Team RCS and other spyware. Citizen Lab’s testing determined that Detekt was able to successfully recognize the version of RCS used in a November attack, but not the version used in a December attack. Citizen Lab concluded that this may indicate that the software had been updated sometime between the two attempts.
These new findings, if accurate, raise serious concerns that Hacking Team has not addressed evidence of abuseof its product by the Ethiopian government and may be continuing to facilitate that abuse through updates or other support, Human Rights Watch said.
Hacking Team states that it sells exclusively to governments, particularly law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The firm told Human Rights Watch in 2014 that “we expect our clients to behave responsibly and within the law as it applies to them” and that the firm will suspend support for its technology if it believes the customer has used it “to facilitate gross human rights abuses” or “who refuse to agree to or comply with provisions in [the company’s] contracts that describe intended use of HT [Hacking Team] software.” Hacking Team has also stated that it has suspended support for their product in the past, in which case the “product soon becomes useless.”
Media reports and research by independent human rights organizations in the past year have documented serious human rights violations by the Ethiopian government that at times have been facilitated by misuse of surveillance powers. Although spyware companies market their products as “lawful intercept” solutions used to fight serious crime or counterterrorism, the Ethiopian government has abused its counterterrorism laws to prosecute bloggers and journalists who merely report on public affairs or politically sensitive issues. Ethiopian laws that authorize surveillance do not adequately protect the right to privacy, due process, and other basic rights, and are inconsistent with international human rights requirements.
Hacking Team previously told Human Rights Watch that “to maintain their confidentiality” the firm does not “confirm or deny the existence of any individual customer or their country location.” On February 25, 2015, Human Rights Watch wrote to the firm to ask whether it has investigated possible abuse of its products by the Ethiopian government to target independent media and hack into ESAT computers. In response, on March 6 a representative of the firm emailed Human Rights Watch that the company “take[s] precautions with every client to assure that they do not abuse our systems, and, we investigate when allegations of misuse arise” and that the firm is “attempting to understand the circumstances in this case.” The company also stated that “it can be quite difficult to get to actual facts particularly since we do not operate surveillance systems in the field for our clients.” Hacking Team raised unspecified questions about the evidence presented to identify the spyware used in these attacks.
Human Rights Watch also asked the company whether contractual provisions to which governmental customers agree address governments’ obligations under international human rights law to protect the right to privacy, freedom of expression, and other human rights. In a separate March 7 response from the firm’s representative, Hacking Team told Human Rights Watch that the use of its technology is “governed by the laws of the countries of our clients,” and sales of its technology are regulated by the Italian Economics Ministry under the Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export controls regime for dual-use technologies. The company stated that it relies “on the International community to enforce its standards for human rights protection.”
The firm has not reported on what, if any, investigation was undertaken in response to the March 2014 Human Rights Watch report discussing how spyware that appeared to be Hacking Team’s RCS was used to target ESAT employees in 2013. In its March 7 response, the company told Human Rights Watch that it will “take appropriate action depending on what we can determine,” but they “do not report the results of our investigation to the press or other groups, because we consider this to be an internal business matter.”
Without more disclosure of how Hacking Team has addressed potential abuses linked to its business, the strength of its human rights policy will be in question, Human Rights Watch said.
Sellers of surveillance systems have a responsibility to respect human rights, which includes preventing, mitigating, and addressing abuses linked to its business operations, regardless of whether government customers adequately protect rights.
“Hacking Team should publicly disclose what steps it has taken to avoid abuses of its product such as those alleged against the Ethiopian government,” Wong said. “The company protects the confidentiality of its customers, yet the Ethiopian government appears to use its spyware to compromise the privacy and security of journalists and their sources.”
“Hacking Team should publicly disclose what steps it has taken to avoid abuses of its product such as those alleged against the Ethiopian government,” Wong said. “The company protects the confidentiality of its customers, yet the Ethiopian government appears to use its spyware to compromise the privacy and security of journalists and their sources.”
Source: hrw.org
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Spy cables reveal African Union assassination threat
Documents show S African and Ethiopian agencies in crisis, suspected Sudan, amid reported 2012 plot to kill AU chief.
Secret intelligence documents leaked to Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit reveal that spies in Addis Ababa were alerted to a plot by "an unnamed state" to kill a top African Union diplomat.
Ethiopian agents later accused Sudan of involvement in the plan to assassinate African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who had previously served as South Africa's foreign minister.
Dlamini-Zuma allegedly faced "an eminent threat" to her life in the Ethiopian capital which also hosts the headquarters of the African Union in October 2012, just days after she was appointed.
The documents show that South African and Ethiopian intelligence agencies had been unprepared for the threat, for which they blamed Sudan. The agencies admitted they did not have enough time to "neutralise the operation" or apprehend those involved.
The documents also describe how unarmed African Union (AU) bodyguards "slept in corridors for four days without food or water provided," because the AU "did not arrange accommodation and resources for food".
'An eminent threat'
On October 22, a week after Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became AUC chairperson, the Spy Cables show that South African intelligence headquarters received information about a possible assassination attempt.
It quickly relayed the details to the embassy in Addis Ababa, and that evening, the South African ambassador briefed Dlamini-Zuma, telling her "there might be some changes in the protection arrangements".
He had expected an attack within the following two days.
South Africa's top spy in Addis Ababa then called Ethiopia's intelligence chief. He left a message, and an hour later got a call back.
Just before 10pm, Ethiopia's spy boss was informed of the threat, and the two men agreed to beef up the South African diplomat's security. Four extra bodyguards were sent to her hotel the following morning.
Crisis meeting
On the day the attack was expected, all the spies could do is watch, wait and hope that the security they had deployed could protect the life of the chairperson.
Amid the crisis, South Africa's security chiefs held an emergency meeting, also chronicled in the Spy Cables. The acting head of South African military intelligence, General T Nyembe, told his colleagues that "an unnamed state" was behind the plot, and warned that there had been "another alert which further pointed out a potential assassination plot… to be carried out at a different venue."
The South Africans discussed the need to make "an overall intervention for the security of the AUC Chair", but doing so in a diplomatic manner to "avoid creating the impression that South Africa was declaring a vote of no confidence on the handing of AUC Chairperson's security" by Ethiopia.
The day passed without any attack.
The following morning, the South Africans meet their Ethiopian counterparts and were told, for the first time, of Sudan's suspected involvement in the plot.
The Spy Cables report that the Director of Foreign Service at Ethiopia's National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Hadera Abera, explained that his service has crosschecked the names of the plotters with "all entry points especially those bordering Sudan".
They found no matches, and the Spy Cables do not reveal the names of the plotters.
Another secret document recorded Hadera saying that in his service's assessment, Sudan "would not carry out such operations" as it had "paid dearly in the attempted assassination of Egypt former President Mubarak."
There is no explanation of how Sudan had "paid dearly," but the state was linked to the attack on Mubarak that took place in Addis Ababa in 1995.
'Slept in corridors'
Hadera reassured the South Africans that "there has been never [sic] a threat that developed into a situation where a diplomat is killed in Addis Ababa with the exception of the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak whose life was threatened in 1987."
Ethiopia uses a different calendar to most of the world, by which its 1987 corresponds to 1995.
Hadera asked for more help from South Africa and to share intelligence to help foil "terrorist activities."
However, the same document shows that AU security chief General Egziabher Mebrahtu swiftly contradicted Hadera's reassurances about diplomats' security in Addis Ababa. He "lamented" the situation for his unarmed men, who have a "poor capacity to provide and protect".
The AU security man also explained that confusion between his agency and Ethiopian intelligence, who provide security for the AUC chairperson, resulted in the situation where the "AU did not arrange accommodation and resources for food" for the bodyguards.
"The protectors slept in corridors for four days without food and water," one spy cable records. "This created a gap since they have to go out of the hotel to get food and water, leaving the Chairperson unattended, therefore vulnerable."
'Threat'
A final secret document on the Addis Ababa security crisis, dated October 29, assesses developments since the threat a few days earlier, and outlines South Africa's security arrangements in Ethiopia. It reveals that the country maintains "two 'Safe Havens' to which South Africans can be taken to in the even of any emergency situations".
It also shows just how underprepared both the South African and Ethiopian security services had been in the face of the threat.
The SSA admits it was not able to foil the plot, writing that "the available time would not allow the host service to neutralise the operation" despite treating the information "with the utmost seriousness".
"Follow-up is being done to clear all potential possibilities on the potential assassination of the Chairperson of the AUC."
"So far no new information has been received regarding the assassins," the secret spy cable concluded.
"The developments on the situation will be monitored and a close liaison with NISS on the matter will be carried out on a daily basis."
Clarification The only previously reported attempt on Mubarak's life had been in 1995. It's not clear if Hadera has mistaken the date or if there had been another, previously unreported assassination attempt in 1987. Mubarak did visit Addis Ababa in 1995 for talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Clarification (25/2/2015): An earlier version of this article said it was unclear whether, when he mentioned 1987, Hadera Abera was mistaken or talking about a previously-unreported assasination attempt on Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa. Neither seems to be the case. Hadera appears to be referencing the 1995 attempt. Ethiopia uses a different calendar to most of the world, by which its 1987 corresponds to 1995.
Source: aljazeera
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Threats and censorship against critical journalists Facts: Ethiopia and press freedom
Threats and censorship against critical journalists Facts: Ethiopia and press freedom
World to criticize the government or report on abuses in Ethiopia is highly dangerous, and the situation is getting worse. Tsedale Lemma is one of the few who openly dares to talk about the stifling of freedom of expression.
- For every leader we write we never know who is going to get angry, says Tsedale Lemma, editor of the English-language magazine Addis Standard.
According to Lemma is the law that controls the media in Ethiopia completely open to interpretation. This leads to extensive journalistic self-censorship.
- And when we do not concern ourselves with self-censorship, we lack access to information or statistics, she says.
She takes police brutality as an example. It is possible to describe in general terms, but it is impossible to review cases of killing protesters.
- That we in the newspaper even take up police brutality see people who courageously. But it also means that they have expectations of us.
The newspaper constantly get emails from people who got into trouble. It's about absurd court cases, mysterious disappearances or persons imprisoned for several years for unclear reasons.
- I want to be their voice. But I do not know what the consequences will be for me or my staff.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released two reports that indicate risks for journalists, and even human rights activists.
Tsedale Lemma highlights the nine bloggers and journalists detained in April last year and accused of terrorism and the risk of life imprisonment.
In late January the United States in a statement Ethiopia to give the nine legally secure trial.
- How can you expect a fair trial when they are charged with terrorism? When everyone knows that the court is controlled by a call from the government? she asks rhetorically.
She has been threatened and left journalism for several years, but in 2011 she founded Addis Standard. Last year she reacted at a conference where the Deputy Prime Minister said that there are no problems for journalists in Ethiopia.
- I told him that it's his word against the rest of the world. It is a strange coincidence that the journalists who are detained are the ones who are most critical of the government.
TT
Press freedom in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is in place 142 of 180 in Reporters Without Borders' press Index for 2015. In the bottom there Eritrea and North Korea. Sweden is fifth.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) blocks all government websites and blogs which express any criticism of the country's governance.
Ethiopia is the country in the world after Iran who has the most journalists in exile.
Since 2009, the anti-terrorist law used against journalists and political opponents, reports HRW.
The Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye was sentenced in 2011 to eleven years in prison in Ethiopia for the promotion of terrorism. They were pardoned in 2012.
TT
The page has been translated by Google translate
Source: hd.se
World to criticize the government or report on abuses in Ethiopia is highly dangerous, and the situation is getting worse. Tsedale Lemma is one of the few who openly dares to talk about the stifling of freedom of expression.
- For every leader we write we never know who is going to get angry, says Tsedale Lemma, editor of the English-language magazine Addis Standard.
According to Lemma is the law that controls the media in Ethiopia completely open to interpretation. This leads to extensive journalistic self-censorship.
- And when we do not concern ourselves with self-censorship, we lack access to information or statistics, she says.
She takes police brutality as an example. It is possible to describe in general terms, but it is impossible to review cases of killing protesters.
- That we in the newspaper even take up police brutality see people who courageously. But it also means that they have expectations of us.
The newspaper constantly get emails from people who got into trouble. It's about absurd court cases, mysterious disappearances or persons imprisoned for several years for unclear reasons.
- I want to be their voice. But I do not know what the consequences will be for me or my staff.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released two reports that indicate risks for journalists, and even human rights activists.
Tsedale Lemma highlights the nine bloggers and journalists detained in April last year and accused of terrorism and the risk of life imprisonment.
In late January the United States in a statement Ethiopia to give the nine legally secure trial.
- How can you expect a fair trial when they are charged with terrorism? When everyone knows that the court is controlled by a call from the government? she asks rhetorically.
She has been threatened and left journalism for several years, but in 2011 she founded Addis Standard. Last year she reacted at a conference where the Deputy Prime Minister said that there are no problems for journalists in Ethiopia.
- I told him that it's his word against the rest of the world. It is a strange coincidence that the journalists who are detained are the ones who are most critical of the government.
TT
Press freedom in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is in place 142 of 180 in Reporters Without Borders' press Index for 2015. In the bottom there Eritrea and North Korea. Sweden is fifth.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) blocks all government websites and blogs which express any criticism of the country's governance.
Ethiopia is the country in the world after Iran who has the most journalists in exile.
Since 2009, the anti-terrorist law used against journalists and political opponents, reports HRW.
The Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye was sentenced in 2011 to eleven years in prison in Ethiopia for the promotion of terrorism. They were pardoned in 2012.
TT
The page has been translated by Google translate
Source: hd.se
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