By Peter Valk | The Epoch Times

Last week, the Ethiopian High Court delivered harsh sentences to five dissident journalists, including an exiled editor living in the United States, on vague charges of terrorism. Critics call the charges trumped up and accuse Ethiopia’s regime of using so-called anti-terrorism laws as a tool of oppression.

“They don’t have any evidence about any act of terror. I believe in peaceful civil resistance to replace dictators like Meles Zenawi,” said Elias Kifle, the editor-in-chief of Ethiopian Review, who was given a life sentence in absentia. … [read more]

(APO) — A group of Ethiopian journalists and opposition politicians were sentenced to prison terms of between 14 years and life. In this connection Federal Government Human Rights Commissioner Markus Löning issued the following statement:

“I am appalled by the convictions. Freedom of the press is one of the foundations of every democracy. The Ethiopian Government has taken notable steps to take their country forward. To be sustainable however, any development needs to go hand in hand with respect for human rights. It is vital for the freedom of the press and freedom of opinion to be safeguarded in Ethiopia.”

Journalists Reyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye and Elias Kifle (in absentia), ENDP leader Zerihun Gebre-Egziabher (Ethiopian National Democratic Party) and opposition supporter Hirut Kifle have been found guilty under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation and Criminal Code of offences including the “planning, preparation conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist act”.

“Like the whole international community, I am personally gravely concerned about the future of the freedom of the press and of opinion in Ethiopia in the light of the numerous arrests and trials of journalists and opposition politicians under the Anti-Terrorism Code.”

By Lyndsey Smith | The Foreigner

Norway has signed an agreement with Ethiopia[‘s dictatorial regime] enabling nationals to return home, officials say.

The new deal means will enable around 400 paperless Ethiopians living in Norway illegally from authorities’ point of view to go back. Deputy Minister of Justice Pål K. Lønseth encourages them to return to Ethiopia voluntarily, giving them 40,000 kroner.

“We will not be using the option of forcible returns before the 15th March, meaning they have the opportunity to apply for a voluntary one soreturn. So the can return to Ethiopia under general conditions,” he tells NRK.

According to him, 15,000 kroner is “if they choose to reintegrate themselves in Ethiopia”, the rest is financial support towards measures after their arrival.

Approximately 100 Ethiopians went on hunger strike last February, locking themselves inside Oslo Cathedral, in protest against their treatment by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI).

Those demonstrating at the time felt their lives were in danger because of Ethiopia’s political situation. The hunger strike lasted a week and the protesters gathered support from people in Oslo and Stavanger.

Calling the new agreement following 20 years of negotiation “good for Norway”, Deputy Minister Lønseth is now hoping deals can be made with other countries, and that “police and immigration authorities use it effectively.”

However, watchdog the Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) personnel express concern about how the government has handled matter, particularly regarding children.

Secretary General Ann-Margrit Austenå says, “A number of Ethiopian children have lived in Norway for quite some time, and we believe their situation must be addressed. The government must postpone cases and make a new assessment if it is serious about their best interests.”

“I fear we will see some incidents of imprisonments [when Ethiopians have returned], and at the very worst torture, as well as destruction of individuals and families.

Ethiopia’s regime is extremely authoritarian, with human rights violations having got worse over the past year. Many of them have been engaged in political opposition whilst living in Norway, and it will have consequences for some,” she concludes.

By William Davison

Human Rights Watch released its latest highly critical report on Ethiopia last week, claiming abuse and coercion in a resettlement program. While Ethiopia’s government Woyanne detests the interventions of foreign rights groups, a restrictive law means there are virtually no domestic monitors of abuses.

‘Waiting Here for Death’ screamed the headline of Human Rights Watch’s latest report on Ethiopia.

The study released last week said that “tens of thousands of {www:indigenous} people had been forcibly moved” in the Sudan-bordering Gambella region as part of a resettlement program.

The report, which alleges a series of abuses by security forces overseeing the scheme, had the desired effect, with the group’s finding plastered across Western media. “Ethiopia evicting its own people to feed others: Human Rights Watch,” said the header in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph.

The food reference is to the commercial farms that are being developed across the sparsely-populated region. Indian and Saudi Arabian investors are already developing huge plots, while the government has earmarked around 40 percent of the state for large-scale farming. The government has not stipulated that the crops grown should be sold in Ethiopia, and critics believe most of it will be exported. HRW said locals and former officials told its researchers the ‘villagization’ program was designed to clear land for leasing.

For the Ethiopian government, HRW’s name is mud. “These persistent and unfounded allegations of human rights watch based on its neo-liberal ideology will not deter Ethiopia from pursuing in its development path,” said the Ministry of Federal Affairs in response to the report. A 2010 HRW release alleging that the ruling party was suppressing the opposition by denying supporters access to aid programs cemented its position as an enemy of the state.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government argues the resettlement of, so far, around 100,000 Anuak and Nuer people in Gambella is voluntary and is aimed at clustering scattered households in order to provide services including schools, health clinics and agricultural assistance. The over-arching goal is “to tackle poverty and ignorance and to usher in a new era of Ethiopian renaissance,” the government says.

In its interviews on the ground with “over 100″ people – around 1 in a 1,000 of those involved in the program so far – HRW’s researcher said “virtually everyone” they spoke to said moves were involuntary. Interviewees in Gambella were selected through advice from contacts, it says. The organisations also spoke to Gambellan refugees in Kenya who had been affected by the program.

While HRW’s sample size is small, the government’s position that all moves are made of individuals’ free will rings hollow. In the nation’s south where the government is planning a 150,000 hectare sugar plantation it also says that resettlement will be voluntary. No explanation is offered of how residents can have a choice of whether they move when they are being displaced by a state-owned field of sugar cane.

Aside from the abuse and coercion, HRW also slams the government for not providing promised services in the new locations. It then turns its fire on donors, paradoxically accusing them of funding the local governments that provide the services.

Officially, the U.K., which has just made Ethiopia its top aid recipient, said it is not supporting the program, but is worried about the poor service provision. Privately, one senior aid official expanded on the stance: “Villagization is not a development policy to be supported. However, HRW tend to lack transparency in their methods and reporting, unfortunately, seemingly more keen on the headline than the full truth.”

With the government hostile and donors too skeptical to investigate inconvenient findings, it is hard to see what the direct benefit of HRW’s reporting is on the victims it identifies.

In its defence, in Ethiopia’s monolithic system, it is performing a valuable investigative role. Political opposition is virtually non-existent, no established media operates in Gambella and the rest of civil society is muted. Pact Ethiopia, one of only a handful of international charities with programs in the state, declined to even give me a background briefing on the ‘sensitive’ region when I approached them recently.

One Ethiopian organization that would have monitored the resettlement is the Human Rights Council (HRC), but its plight is symptomatic of a system that largely does not tolerate critical debate.

In late 2009, parliament passed a law that banned any charity that receives over 10 percent of its funding from abroad from promoting rights.

With around three-quarters of its funding foreign and its whole program based on human right monitoring and advocacy, the Human Rights Council was eviscerated. Last week it had another hearing in a futile legal battle to reverse a decision to freeze its bank accounts. It seems unlikely that it will be producing itemised reports detailing human rights abuses across the country for much longer.

In an interview with English journalist Peter Gill in a 2010 book, Prime Minister Meles justified the law by saying that Ethiopian civil society should develop without the influence of foreign donors. According to one leading member of Ethiopia’s charity sector, the reality is that “the law was intended to stop serious engagement in advocacy work, and it’s working.” HRC says its embattled organization is now the only NGO monitoring human rights in Ethiopia. “Ethiopia’s once vibrant human rights community is on the verge of extinction,” it says.

In Gambella, the government plans for around 70 percent of the population to resettle over the three-year period of the program. Such ambition puts pressure on local officials to push through implementation. Earlier this month, there was a cull of leading regional politicians due to a lack of “efficiency,” government spokesman Bereket Simon said.

Ideally, villagization would be constantly scrutinized by Ethiopian civil society to ensure that abuses do not result from this pressure. Instead, the vacuum is filled by Human Rights Watch’s clandestine research and searing conclusions. An intervention that is likely to have little effect on the program other than steeling the government’s resolve to ensure that it goes ahead with minimum interference from outsiders.

By William Davison

(Bloomberg) — An Ethiopian A Woyanne kangaroo court judge in Ethiopia sentenced three journalists, an opposition politician and another person to prison terms ranging from 14 years to life in jail for terrorism-related crimes.

Elias Kifle, who was convicted in {www:absentia} and runs the U.S.-based Ethiopian Review website, received a life sentence, said Federal High Court Judge Endeshaw Adane.

Woubshet Taye, former deputy editor of the now-closed Awramba Times and Reeyot Alemu, a columnist for Fitih newspaper were sentenced each to 14 years by the court in the capital, Addis Ababa, today.

The group were found guilty Jan. 19 of conspiring to commit terrorist acts and belonging to a banned group under a 2009 anti-terrorism law.

All five are “prisoners of conscience” and did not commit any crimes, according to London-based Amnesty International.

“We are going to appeal to the Supreme Court,” said Molla Zegeye, a lawyer for Reeyot, after the sentencing. “She did not commit terror attacks. She is a professional journalist.”

Hirut Kifle got a 19-year sentence and Zerihun Gebre- Egziabher, president of the National Democratic Party, was jailed for 17 years, said Endeshaw.

“I am not guilty,” Zerihun said to the court after the sentencing. “History will prove I am innocent.”

Since March, 108 politicians and six journalists have been arrested for having links to banned groups, according to Amnesty.