Ethiopians' Loyal Friend Ana Gobeze aka Ana Gomes unleashes her critic against Regime

Ana Gomes, a Portuguese by birth but a true friend of the oppressed Ethiopians, who was hated and banned entry to Ethiopia by the late prime minster & co because of her brutally honest critic as an observer of the bloody & rigged Ethiopia's 2005 election which resulted in the arbitrary killings of over 190 innocent protesters by the regime. Eight years later, Gomes was back to  attend in the just concluded 26^th ACP-EU parliamentary meeting in the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She is coordinator and spokesperson of the foreign affairs committee for her political group, the Social-Democrat. With 200 members the Social-Democrat is the second largest group within the European Parliament. For Ethiopia and Ethiopians though Ana Gomes is best remembered for her role as the leader of the EU election observers’ team during the 2005 crisis-induced general election in Ethiopia. She has had a troubled relationship with Ethiopia’s late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who she still calls “a dictator,” after she published her report in which wrote the election was massively rigged. Her arrival in Addis Ababa caught many, who thought she would never be allowed to set foot in Ethiopia, by a surprise. Addis Standard’s deputy-editor-in-chief Tesfaye Ejigu met Ana Gomes during the meeting and held an exclusive interview. She discussed issues

Appeal: Eskinder Nega & Reeyot Alemu, Nominees for 2013 Sakharov Prize, seek donations to fund human rights case

Eskinder Nega and Reeyot Alemu are Ethiopian journalists who have been awarded the UNESCO World Press Freedom Award and nominated for the 2013 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for their journalistic work.

The Ethiopian government, however, has been less appreciative of their journalism – which criticised government policy on issues such as poverty, minority rights and mismanagement of funds on large government projects – and has imprisoned them as “terrorists”. Eskinder Nega is serving an 18 year prison sentence for writing an article that posed the question, Could an Arab Spring-like movement take place in Ethiopia? Reeyot Alemu is a teacher and a freelance journalist, sentenced to 5 years in prison for various articles in which she questioned government policy. Their sentences have been confirmed by the highest courts of appeal in Ethiopia.

The London-based Media Legal Defence Initiative, has joined forces with DC-based Freedom Now and appealed their case to the African Commission of Human Rights. They have filed a brief arguing that Reeyot and Eskinder’s case is emblematic of a wider pattern of repression of the independent media in Ethiopia – since the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation was adopted, at least 15 journalists have been prosecuted for ‘terrorism’ and over 14 news outlets have been shut down – and that the matter is declared a systematic violation of the rights of independent journalists in Ethiopia.

MLDI’s legal team, which includes Korieh Duodu alongside MLDI’s Nani Jansen and Patrick Griffiths for Freedom now, give their time pro bono – but they are seeking funding to cover costs before the African Commission and Court of Human Rights. There will be significant expenditure in attending hearings, translating numerous legal documents and other court-related expenses.

MLDI is asking for donations to help cover these costs and has started an appeal for donations on a new crowdfunding website for independent media, http://indievoic.es/index.php. As little as $25 will help make a difference. Please give generously. To make a contribution or for more information, please click here or contact the Media Legal Defence Initiative.

Source: International Forum For Responsible Media Blog

Kality Prison: Somebody's Hell is another's Heaven

Ethiopia, Modernday Orwellian Animal-Farm

You may disagree with me but I believe that if there are such things called heaven and/or hell, it is only here on planet earth. Let's keep this rhetoric aside for a while and discuss about the main issue which came across to me last Saturday while I was attending the book-release event held by the duo Swedish journalists who were "pardoned" last year after being jailed for 438 days in Ethiopia, to remember thousands of Ethiopian prisoners of conscience and the crackdown on dissent in Ethiopia. TPLF's (Tigray People's Liberation Front) late strongman bragged " Swedish and Ethiopians are before our justice system; we bleed the same blood", when asked if he was

ዝዋይ እስር ቤትን ያየ ቃሊቲን ያመሰግናል።

እውን የነጭም የጥቁርም ደም ለኢህአዴግ አንድ ዓይነት ነው?

እንደምን ከረማችሁ? እንኳን ወደ አዲሱ ዓመት "በሰላም" (መቼም አንዳቾቻችሁ ምን ሰላም አለና እንደምትሉ መጠርጠር ግድ ይላል፡ እኔም ከእናንተ መሃል አንዱ ነኝ) ተሸጋገራችሁ። 2006 እንዴት ይዟችኋል? ግን ግን እንደው ግርም አይልም የእኝህ የ"አዲሱ" ጠቅላይ ምኒስትር ነገር። ትዝ ይላችሁ እንደሆን ሟቹ ጠቅላይ ምኒስትር ከመሞታቸው በፊት ሁለቱን ስዊድናውያን ጋዜጠኞች ለመፍታት ሃሳብ እንዳላቸው ጥያቄ ቀርቦላቸው "በህግ ፊት ሁላችንም እኩል ነን (ሆድ ሲያውቅ ዶሮ ማታ አለች የምትለው ጥቅስ ትዝ አትላችሁም) ጥቁርም ሆነ ነጭ ደማችን አንድ ነው" ብለው መልስ ሰጥተው ነበር። በኋላ ላይ ግን ቀኝ አዙር ብለው ለፈረንጆቹ

Addis Abeba, Gonder and Dessie but which is Next?

Following a public rally in the capital last month by the young opposition Semayawi Party that was the largest demonstration by a political party since the 2005 rigged election, UDJ (the Union for Democracy and Justice) party held its biggest public protests in Northern Ethiopian towns of Gondar and Dessie last Sunday ( July, 14) under the theme Millions of Voices for Freedom. BTW, UDJ is the only

ትናንት አዲስ አበባ፡ዛሬ ደሴ እና ጎንደር ማነህ/ሽ ባለሳምንት?

እድሜ ለአንድነት፡አስተነፈሰን

ነበር ያሉት ባለፈው እሁድ ሃምሌ 8 2005 የዴሴን ጎዳናዎች ያጥለቀለቁት በብዙ ሺህ የሚቆጠሩ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ በስልጣን ላይ ያለው የህውሃት መንግስት የሚያደርገውን አፈናና ወከባ እንዲያቆም ለመጠየቅ ሰላማዊ የወጡ የአንድነት ለፍትህና ዴሞክራሲ ደጋፊዎች እና አባላት። እኔ ደግሞ እድሜ ለሰማያዊ ፓርቲ ብያለሁ፡ ምክንያቱም ሰማያዊ ፓርቲ ይህንን ከ 97ቱ ምርጫ በኋላ በገዥው ፓርቲ ታግቶ የቆየውን ህገመንግስታዊ መብት ባይሰብር ኖሮ ባለፈው እሁድ በጎንደር እና በደሴ ከተሞች ያየናቸውን ደማቅ እና