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Paris,
September 5, 2009 – Reporters Without Borders is stunned by the one-year
jail sentences imposed on two journalists in separate cases brought by
the public prosecutor for the alleged dissemination of false
information. Both journalists have been held in Kalita prison on the
outskirts of Addis Ababa since 24 August. One the prosecutions concerned
an article published in 2004 and both were based in part on an obsolete
law.
“These prison sentences, and the prosecution of old cases, are all the
more surprising as the Ethiopian authorities had been displaying signs
of greater tolerance towards the media since 2005,” Reporters Without
Borders said, calling for the immediate release of the two journalists.
“Coming after the adoption of an anti-terrorism law that could lead to
press freedom violations, these sentences show that it is still very
dangerous to work as a journalist in Ethiopia,” the press freedom
organization added. “It is incomprehensible that the courts are
enforcing a law that is no longer in effect.”
Federal high court judge Zewdinesh Asres passed a one-year sentence on
Asrat Wedajo, the former editor of the weekly Seife Nebelbal, over a
2004 article about human rights violations against individuals in the
Oromia regional state. Wedajo, who was not represented by a lawyer at
the trial, was convicted under the criminal code and a 1992 press law
that was rendered obsolete by the media and access to information law
that took effect last December.
Seife Nebelbal, which expressed strong political views and often
reported alleged cases of mistreatment of Oromos, was closed during a
crackdown on the press in 2005 by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s
government.
In the other case, Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, the editor of the weekly
Salafiyya, was given a one-year sentence under the same provisions for
publishing a column last year criticizing the education ministry’s plan
to ban Muslim students from wearing the veil in state schools. Ali spent
10 days in prison after the article’s publication together with Maria
Kadim, the editor of the Muslim daily Al-Quds, and Ezedin Mohamed, its
publisher.
Reporters Without Borders wrote to communication minister Bereket Simon
on 15 July voicing concern about the newly-adopted anti-terrorism law
and the press freedom violations that are liable to result from some of
its articles.
During a visit to Ethiopia in October 2008, Reporters Without Borders
met Simon, who was then an adviser to the prime minister. He said at the
time that the government wanted to open up to the media and defuse
tension with journalists. Reporters Without Borders understands that the
Ethiopian government made encouraging strides to open up access of
information to journalists following the pledge. However the press
freedom organization fears that such indictments of journalists based on
obsolete law could derail progress in the relations between the
government and the media.
Reporters Without Borders remains hopeful that the Ethiopian government
will work vigorously to create an environment that enables journalists
to work without intimidation and fear.
Source: RSF, September 4, 2009
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