NEW YORK – Fourteen journalists appeared in court today, all of whom face charges of seeking to overthrow the government and ‘genocide.’ We are appalled that Ethiopian authorities have pursued these outrageous charges against a large segment of the local private press, said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Julia Crawford.
“The government’s vast crackdown on the media has left Ethiopians deprived of independent news sources at a time of political turmoil. We call on the Ethiopian government to ensure that the charges targeting journalists are dropped, and that all journalists jailed in Ethiopia are released.”
CPJ is a New York–based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit www.cpj.org.
==
Committee to Protect Journalists
phone: 1-212-465-1004
fax: 1-212-465-9568
http://www.cpj.org
