Feature
Ethiopia tightens noose around critics, journalistsThe alleged offences relate to widespread post-election violence in which 46 people were killed in clashes between demonstrators and security forces. In June, another 42 died in similar protests over the parliamentary elections, which were held on May 15, according to Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN). Fifteen separate charges were pressed against them on December 16 in a packed and heavily guarded courtroom. These included conspiracy, causing armed uprising and trying to subvert the constitution. The maximum sentences for the crimes range from 25 years in prison to the death penalty, according to Ethiopia’s penal code. Minimum sentences for some of the charges are three years imprisonment. “The court has received the charges against 131 defendants, including those before me,” said Judge Adil Ahmed. None of the defendants had formally been charged because of delays by legal officials in sifting evidence and preparing charge sheets, he added. Acts of genocide, according to Ethiopia’s penal code, include killing, causing displacement of persons and issuing propaganda “with the interest to destroy in whole or part a nation.” Among those facing the charges are 10 elected members of parliament, the IRIN report said. Urging the Ethiopian government to act with the “utmost prudence,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said it would pay close attention to the judicial proceedings. RSF also called on the United Nations to send a legal observation mission to Ethiopia to assess the validity of the charges, monitor respect for due process at the forthcoming mass trial, and report back to the UN Security Council. “The charges of high treason and genocide are extremely grave as regards the journalists,” RSF said. “We call on the Ethiopian government to show the utmost transparency in these cases. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi should not try to defuse the criticism against him at the expense of the freedom or lives of citizens.” “In order to be able to establish whether the proceedings are credible and whether or not the Ethiopian government has something to hide,” the organisation added, “the Security Council must be given detailed information about this coming political trial, of which the motives – as far as we know right now – are disturbing, to say the least.” “These charges are shocking and outrageous,” said Ann Cooper, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director. “They strike at the heart of Ethiopia’s journalist community by criminalising essential work of the press. The government of Prime Minister Zenawi is using legal means to suppress dissent, but it is increasingly behaving like an outlaw regime.” Fourteen of the journalists charged on December 21 are in custody; they were detained in a crackdown launched after antigovernment protests in early November. Most journalists charged work for private, Amharic-language weekly newspapers. Among those charged were five journalists of Ethiopian descent who work in Washington for the Voice of America’s Amharic service, according to a CPJ source present at the hearing. The five were charged in absentia. In its chargesheet, the government accused freelance journalist Iskinder Nega of being a leader of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party, a source told CPJ. Precise details about other charges were not immediately available. The journalists charged on December 21 were: Nega; Fassil Yenealem, publisher of Addis Zena; Wosonseged Gebrekidan, editor of Addis Zena; Sisay Agena, publisher of Ethiop; Andualem Ayle, editor of Ethiop; Serkalem Fassil, publisher and manager of Satanaw, Menilik, Asqual; and Wonakseged Zeleke, editor of Asqual. Also charged were: Zelalem Gebre, editor of Menilik (in absentia); Nardos Meaza, editor of Satanaw; Dawit Fassil, deputy editor of Satanaw; Zekarias Tesfaye, publisher of Netsanet; Abiy Gizaw, editor of Netsanet (in absentia); Dereje Habewolde, deputy editor of Netsanet; Mesfin Tesfaye, editor of Abay; Dawit Kebede, editor of Hadar; Feleke Tibebu, deputy editor of Hadar; and Kifle Mulat, EFJA (in absentia) The VOA staffers charged in absentia were: Nigussie Mengesha, Addisu Abebe, Tizita Belachew, Adanech Fessehaye, and Solomon Kifle. Voice of America Director David S Jackson said in response to charges of treason against the VOA journalists: “These charges are false and are an obvious attempt to intimidate our broadcasters. The Voice of America has a worldwide reputation for the quality and reliability of our journalism, and we stand by our reporters.” VOA also accused the government of Meles Zenawi of trying to jam its transmissions to Ethiopia. A CPJ delegation met the Ethiopian ambassador to the United States on December 22 and expressed outrage at the jailing of the journalists and demanded their immediate release. “Ethiopia and Eritrea are by far Africa’s worst jailers of journalists in 2005,” CPJ Africa Programme Coordinator, Julia Crawford, told ambassador Kassahun Ayele. “They trail only China and Cuba on CPJ’s annual list of the world’s worst jailers of journalists.” The ambassador said that he did not have detailed information about the charges brought against the journalists. Ambassador Ayele denied that VOA journalists had been charged but VOA issued a statement today in Washington confirming the charges against its staff members. Besides 14 journalists jailed in the crackdown, two more journalists were sentenced to prison terms in December on old charges under Ethiopia’s restrictive press law. Getachew Simie, former editor-in-chief of the defunct Amharic-language weekly Agere, was sentenced on December 7 to three months in prison for criminal defamation. Leykun Engeda, former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Amharic-language weekly Dagim Wonchif, was sentenced on December 9 to 15 months in prison for allegedly publishing false news. On December 6, one of the detained journalists, Wosonseged Gebrekidan, was sentenced to eight months in jail, in an unrelated case, for allegedly defaming a former diplomat in a 2002 opinion piece. “I believe Meles Zenawi is doing a great disservice to himself and his government by charging all his critics with treason. This courtroom drama, backed up by extrajudicial killings, mass arrests, beatings and intimidation, isn’t about law and order. It is aimed at creating fear and terror among the people of Ethiopia,” Abebe Tamrat, a lawyer who is intending to leave the country soon, told Linda Milani, a freelance journalist and human rights activist. “In today’s Ethiopia, there is no constitution or rule of law. The present situation reminds us of Cambodia’s killing fields under Pol Pot. Those who are in jail for telling the truth never deserve to be there for a single minute let alone months and years. We know who the criminals are,” he said with a quivering voice. From November 1, the police has used violence to disperse demonstrations being organised by the CUD in Addis Ababa and several provincial cities in protest against the results of the May 15 legislative elections, in which the ruling party took two-thirds of the seats in parliament. The CUD accused Meles’ Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of rigging the vote count and urged its supporters to take to the streets to demand justice. A total of 48 people were killed and 200 others were injured in the ensuing clashes, and at least 11,000 people were detained. ETHIOMEDIA.COM – ETHIOPIA’S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE © COPYRIGHT 20001-2003 ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: [email protected] |