Two journalists sentenced to one year imprisonment

By Eskinder Nega
| August 24, 2009

ADDIS ABABA – A federal high court convicted and sentenced two journalists to one year imprisonment each on Monday on grounds of “disseminating false stories.”

Asrat Wodajo, editor of Seife Nebelbal, and Ibrahim Mohamed, editor of Selefia, would serve time for charges as old as almost five years.

Seife Nebelbal was one of the thirteen papers that were closed down in late 2005, and the editor is being sent to prison for a story that appeared in the same year. The paper was the most popular among the Oromos at the time of its illegal closure by the government. The Oromos are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.

Selefia is an Islamic paper reputed for its advocacy of strict adherence to Koranic principles. It is still in print.

The court turned down the defendants’ request to replace jail sentences with monetary fines.