On 27 June, prominent blogger and human rights defender EskinderNega was convicted along
with five other exiled journalists for attempting to incite violence and
overthrow the constitutional order. Eskinder was
arrested on 14 September 2011 after he wrote an article criticising
the manner in which Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism proclamation was being used to
stifle free speech. The authorities have accused him of attempting to start an
uprising through a series of articles he wrote on the Arab Spring and through
his analyses of the political situation in Ethiopia. Sentencing for Eskinder, who is in custody, and for other journalists who
were tried in absentia, is planned for 13 July.
It is estimated by media watchdog groups that at least 11
journalists have been convicted in Ethiopia through politically motivated
trials over the course of the last six months and 49 have fled the country over
the last five years.
“Accusing members of the press of being terrorists
and then using the criminal justice system to put them behind bars marks a
further and dangerous decline in the rule of law in Ethiopia,” says MandeepTiwana, Policy and
Advocacy Manager at CIVICUS. “By silencing dissenting voices through legal
manipulation, Ethiopian authorities are demonstrating a worrying contempt for
their international human rights obligations.”
Notably, the draft law provides for punishment of up to
eight years in prison for disseminating a “terrorising
message” connected to an offence under Ethiopia”s
anti-terrorism proclamation. Broad and vaguely defined provisions contained in
the anti-terrorism law are frequently invoked to silence dissenters in
Ethiopia, and there is a danger that social media postings and updates critical
of the government would be prosecuted through the ambit of the proposed law.
Independent media in Ethiopia is already under severe
pressure, operating at the risk of reprisals for publishing news and analysis
critical of the government. Most independent newspapers have shut down and a
number of journalists have fled Ethiopia. In April this year, the editor of the
popular weekly newspaper Feteh was fined and
handed a suspended four month prison sentence for contempt of court after
prosecutors accused the paper of publishing articles undermining people’s trust
in the rule of law. The newspaper had published a transcript of the testimony
given by EskinderNega in
court.
In April 2012,Berhanena Selam, Ethiopia’s primary state-owned printing
press, issued a self-censorship directive informing newspaper and magazine
publishers that it would refuse to print information that it believed to be in
breach of the anti-terrorism law. The directive also required newspapers and
magazines to agree to the new terms and conditions before using the printing
press’ services. TH
CIVICUS urges the international community to: (i) unequivocally condemn the ongoing restrictions on civil
society and democratic freedoms in Ethiopia; (ii) engage substantively with the
Ethiopian government to reverse restrictive legislation and policy; and (iii)
put in place mechanisms to monitor the human rights situation in Ethiopia and
to make recommendations to the government.
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is a
global movement of civil society dedicated to strengthening citizen action and
civil society across the world
