Crackdown on dissent intensified as
journalists convicted – Joint Statement
31 October 2014. Ethiopia’s already limited space for civil society and human
rights defenders is undergoing further contraction, warns CIVICUS, The East and
Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, and the Ethiopia Human Rights
Project (EHRP). Throughout 2014, Ethiopian authorities have orchestrated an
unprecedented legislative assault on journalists, and independent voices within
civil society, undermining fundamental human rights and restricting the
operating environment for civil society and human rights defenders.
On 27 October 2014, prominent
newspaper editor Temesgen Desalegn was sentenced to three years imprisonment on
politically motivated charges of provoking incitement against the state.
Temesgen and his now defunct newspaper, Feteh, were
targeted under Ethiopian Criminal Code provisions. The charges, which are
widely viewed as an attempt to silence independent reporting on sensitive
issues, stem from articles published byFeteh on demonstrations organised by Muslim
groups and youth activists in 2012.
Earlier this month, three magazine
owners were sentenced to sentences ranging from three years and three months to
three years and eleven months in absentia. They are Endalkachew Tesfaye of the Addis Gudaymagazine, Fatuma Nuriya
of Fact, and Gizaw Taye of Lomi. The charges
levelled against them included “inciting violent revolts, printing and
distributing unfounded rumours and conspiring to unlawfully abolish the
constitutional system of the country.” In August 2014, the Ministry of Justice
accused six weekly papers of committing unsubstantiated crimes against the
state. There are concerns that the three other newspapers listed in the
communique, including Afro-Times, Enqu and Jano, will also be targeted.
“The recent convictions are
indicative of the intolerance of the Ethiopian state towards any kind of
dissent. It is a widely held view that the current government is becoming
particularly sensitive to public scrutiny as it readies for national elections
in May 2015,” said Mandeep Tiwana, Head of Policy and Research at CIVICUS.
“With at least 17 journalists and bloggers currently imprisoned in Ethiopia,
the country is believed to be the second largest imprisoner of journalists in
Sub -Saharan Africa after Eritrea.”
In addition to the wilful
misapplication of the Criminal Code, sweeping provisions of Ethiopia’s 2009
Anti-Terrorism Proclamation continue to be invoked to silence journalists and
human rights defenders. On 17 July 2014, six members of the blogger’s
collective, Zone 9, and three independent journalists, were charged with
planning terrorist acts and committing outrages against the Constitution under
the Anti-Terrorism proclamation and Ethiopian Criminal Code.
In addition, a seventh member of
Zone 9, Soliyana Gebremicheal, who also coordinates the Ethiopian Human Rights
Project, was charged in absentia with leading the group. As justification for
the charges, the public prosecutor pointed to Soliyana’s recent involvement in
a digital security training organised by international human rights groups.
“In the run up to national
elections, the increasing trend of arbitrary arrest and detention, politically
motivated prosecutions, and intimidation of independent voices within civil
society is deeply concerning,” said Soleyana Gebremichael, of the Ethiopia
Human Rights Project. “Similar trends were notable in the run-up to the 2010
national election, in which the ruling EPRDF party won 99.6% of parliamentary
seats.”
The escalating crackdown in the
country comes at a time of growing concern among the international community
over Ethiopia’s disregard for its national and international human rights
obligations. In September this year, six independent UN experts urged the government to cease misusing the
Anti-Terrorism proclamation to curb the rights to freedom of expression and
association. In May 2014, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights alsoraised concern about the climate of intimidation of
human rights defenders in Ethiopia.
“In Ethiopia over the last five
years, we have seen the wholesale disappearance of the human rights community,
with countless human rights defenders forced into exile due to heavy-handed and
manifestly unlawful state tactics aimed at undermining their work,” said Hassan
Shire, Executive Director of the East and Horn of African Human Rights
Defenders Project. “Throughout 2014, the risks facing journalists and
independent human rights voices have reached unprecedented new heights.”
The Ethiopian government continues
to ignore calls from the international community to institute substantive
reforms to rectify the human rights situation in the country. In September
2014, during the adoption of its UN Universal Period Review Report, Ethiopian
authorities refused to accept a number of recommendations to release imprisoned
journalists and activists in the country or revise the Anti-Terrorism
proclamation, despite calls from civil society organisations and a number of
governments.
CIVICUS, the East and Horn of
Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, and the Ethiopia Human Rights Project
urge Ethiopia’s trade and development partners to engage with the Ethiopian
government with a view to ending the on-going crackdown on human rights
defenders and civil society.
Source: CIVICUS
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