Ethiopian Court Sentenced Three Magazine owners in Absentia: RSF

They fled the country before the trial and were convicted in absentia

Ethiopia’s federal supreme court yesterday sentenced three magazine owners in absentia to more than three years in prison on charges of “inciting violent revolts, printing and distributing unfounded rumours and conspiring to unlawfully abolish the constitutional system of the country.”

The three, who fled the country when the prosecution was mooted, are Addis Guday publisher Endalkachew Tesfaye, Lomi publisher Gizaw Taye and Fact publisher Fatuma Nuriya. Their jail terms range from three years and three months to three years and eleven months.

Ethiopia’s justice ministry announced in August that it was bringing criminal charges against these three magazines and three other weeklies – Enqu, Jano and Afro-Times.

“The sentences imposed on these three magazine owners are shocking,” said Cléa Kahn-Sriber, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Africa desk. “The clearly outrageous grounds for their conviction are indicative of how a very authoritarian regime is manipulating the justice system. This type of persecution amounts to banning independent media in Ethiopia altogether.”

The authorities have been stepping up their persecution of news and information providers for the past several months. Six bloggers and three journalists (including an Addis Guday reporter) have been held since April. After repeated postponements, their trial is now scheduled for 15 October.

In June, 18 journalists were fired from Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO), the main state-owned broadcaster in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest region, for supposedly having “narrow political views.” The dismissal order came from the government.

Ethiopia is ranked 143rd out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Source: RSF

ባለፈው ሚያዚያ የተቀሰቀሰውን የተማሪዎች ዓመጽ ተከትሎ መንግስት ሃያ ጠባብ ዓመለካት አላቸው ያላቸውን የኦሮሚያ ቲቪ ጋዘጠኞችን ከስራ አባረረ፡ ሲፒጄ

የጋዜጠኞች መብት ተሟጋች ወይም ሲፒጄ በሚል የምጽሃረ ቃል የሚጠራው ዓለምዓቀፉ ሃሳብን በነጻነት የመግለጽ   ተሟጋች ቡድን ትናንትናው እለት በድረገጹ  ላይ እንዳስታወቀው፡ እነዚህ ሃያ የሚሆኑ በመንግስት ቁጥጥር ስር የሚተዳደረው የኦሮሚያ ቴሌቪዥን ባልደረቦች ያለምንም ማስጠንቀቂያ ከስራ ገበታቸው የተሰናበቱ ሲሆን በዓሁኑ ሰዓት መንግስት በሰበብ   አስባብ እንዳያስራቸው በመስጋት ተደብቀው እንደሚገኙ አንድ ስሙ እንዳይጠቀስ የፈለገ ጋዜጠኛ ለሲፒጄ ከሰጠው ቃለመጠይቅ ለመረዳት ተችሏል። እንደ አውሮፓውያኑ አቆጣጠር ጁን 25 እነዚሁ ሰራተኞች ወደ ቴሌቪዥን ጣቢያው መግባት እንደማይችሉ በስራ ሃላፊዎቻቸው እንደተነገራቸው ገልጸው፡ በምን ምክንያት ውሳኔው ሊተላለፍባቸው እንደተቻለ ምንም የተገለጸላቸው ነገር አለመኖሩን ለሲፒጄ አስታውቀዋል። 

እንደሚታወቀው ባለፈው ሚያዚያ መንግስት ሊያጸድቅ ያቀደው የአዲስ አበባ ማስተር ፕላን በዋና ከተማ ዙሪያ አካባቢዎች ላይ የሰፈሩ ገበሬዎችን ያፈናቀላል በሚል በተለያዩ የትምህርት ተቋማት ተማሪዎች ከፍተኛ የተቋውሞ ሰልፍ አስነስተው በሰው ህይወት እና በንብረት ላይ ከፍተኛ አደጋ ደርሶ ነበር። የኦሮሚያ ቲቪ ጋዜጠኞች ይህንን ፖሊሲ የሚተች ነው ያሉትን ዘገባ እና የገዥው ፓርቲ ባለስልጣናት የተሳተፉበትን ስብሰባ ከተቃውሞ ሰልፉ አንድ ቀን ቀደም ብለው ማቅረባቸው ከስራ ለመባረራቸው መነሾ ሊሆን እንደሚችል አክለው ገልጸዋል። ይህ አንድ ስሙ እንዳይጠቀስ የፈለገው ጋዜጠኛ ለሲፒጄ በሚከተለው መልኩ ገልጾታል።

"መንግስት እሱ በሚፈልገው/በሚመርጠው አስተሳሰብ ሊያጠምቅህ ካልቻለ፡ ከስራ ገበታህ ያፈናቅልሃል"

የጋዜጠኞቹን መባረር ተከትሎ አቶ በረከት ስምኦን እና የፋና ብርድካስት በአዳማ ከተማ ባዘጋጁት ግምገማ የኦሮሚያ ጋዜጠኞች እንዲሳተፉ የተደረጉ ሲሆን፡ ዓላማው የጋዜጠኛውን ክህሎት እና የስራ ብቃት ለማጎልበት ሳይሆን የጋዜጠኞቹን የፖለቲካ አቋም ለመሰል የተሸረበ ሴራ እንደነበረ፡ በዚሁ ግምገማ ላይ የተሳተፉ ጋዜጠኞች ተናግረዋል። ግምገማውን ያዘጋጁት አንዳንድ ካድሬዎች ለጋዜጠኞቹ እንዳሰረዱት፡ የተቋውሞ ሰልፉን በተመለከት የኦሮሚያ ቲቪ ሲያቀርቡት በነበረው ዘገባ ላይ መንግስት ደስተኛ እንዳልነበር ነው። 

እንደሲፒጄ ዘገባ፡ እነዚህ ከስራ የተባረሩት ጋዜጠኞች ከአምስት ዓመት በላይ የስራ ልምድ እንዳላቸው ለመረዳት ተችሏል።

ምንጭ ሲፒጄ   

Ethiopia ranks again Second Worst Place For Journalists: CPJ

The International Press Freedom Watchdog, CPJ ( Committee to Protect Journalists) in its annual report for this year released today disclosed that 2013 is  the worst for journalist worldwide and Ethiopia is one these places where the safety of journalists is under extreme threat. Our country again named the second journalist jailer in Africa and our competitor, Eritrea is clinching its first place by holding twenty-two journalists behind bars for another reason doing their job - journalism. What makes our country is unique that it is incarcerating not only Ethiopians but two journalists from Eritrea who were captured in Somalia during TPLF's military adventure back in 2006. The whereabouts of these two Eritrean journalists are unknown, according to CPJ's report. In the meantime, our rulers are denying that there are no journalist who are jailed due their profession; an insult to our intelligence. But, I still wonder why is my colleague Shifferaw Insermu, who is the longest serving Ethiopian journalist since April 2004 and whose whereabouts is still unknown to these days,

No Lack of Freedom of Speech in Eritrea : Ambassador Tesfamichael Gerahtu told BBC

Seriously Ambassador? Lie, after lie; it just never stops. Have read (of course, you did) what Reporters without Borders written to your President? To refresh your memory, here are some of the accusations against your president.
Issaias Afeworki, Reporters Without Borders accuses you of committing the following crimes: Ordering, together with then information minister Naizghi Kiflu, the closure of all of Eritrea’s privately-owned press and the arrests of at least 13 journalists, newspaper owners and editors in September 2001. Imposing an unrelenting censorship and terror on the state media – including Eri-TV, radio Dimtsi Hafash (Voice of the Masses) and the Hadas Eritrea – which are the only media allowed in Eritrea. Masterminding and allocating major financial and technical resources for the jamming of the satellite signal of Radio Erena, an independent exile radio station broadcasting to Eritrea from Paris. Responsibility for the surveillance and harassment of the few foreign media correspondents based in Asmara until they all left. You share this responsibility with Ali Abdu, your acting information minister for nearly ten years (who fled the country in November 2012), and his close collaborator, Amanuel Hadgu.
pro-governement daily

Icing on the cake, three of your journalists who fled from the country on the "right track" with abundant freedom of expression to Uganda, were honored on December fourth ( a day before you gave this interview) for their extraordinary courage in continuing to report about government corruption and gender inequalities among others. Mr. Ambassador fool us once, shame on you; but fool us twice shame on us!