CPJ — The Ethiopian government Woyanne regime today publicly accused an editor and a columnist of involvement in a terrorism {www:plot}, according to news reports and local journalists. Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the leading Awramba Times newspaper and Reeyot Alemu, columnist forthe weekly Feteh, have been held {www:incommunicado} under Ethiopia’s far-reaching anti-terrorism law since last week.
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The anti-terrorism law criminalizes writing the government regime deems favorable to groups and causes it labels as “terrorists,” including banned political opposition party Ginbot 7. This is the first use of the law against journalists.
Today, government Woyanne spokesman Shimelis Kemal announced in a press conference in the capital, Addis Ababa, that Taye and Alemu were among nine people arrested on suspicion of organizing a terrorist network. The group was also accused of planning attacks on {www:infrastructure}, telecommunications, and power lines in the country, according to news reports. Kemal accused the nine of having links with an unnamed international terrorist group and Ethiopia’s neighbor, Eritrea, according to news reports. Neither journalist has yet been charged, pending investigations, according to Kemal.
“These accusations against Woubshet Taye and Reeyot Alemu must be viewed in light of the Ethiopian Woyanne administration’s longstanding practice of using trumped-up charges to silence and jail critical independent journalists,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “It is outrageous that a government spokesman should publicly accuse journalists of terrorism when they have not been charged with any crime and are unable to respond because they are in detention. They should be freed immediately.”
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Kemal said the arrests of the two journalists had “nothing to do with viewpoints they have published.” Alemu had recently criticized the ruling party’s public fundraisingmethod for a major dam project on the Nile, and Tayehas critically covered local politics as the deputy editor of his newspaper.
Last week, Kemal told CPJ no journalists were incarcerated in Ethiopia, which is not true, according to CPJ research. Six journalists are currently behind bars in Ethiopia, two on vague criminal charges and four on vague terrorism accusations, including Taye and Alemu, according to CPJ research. Ethiopia is the second leading African jailer of journalists, behind Eritrea.
The police are almost always an important source of power in society. They maintain law and order, they carry out the government’s laws, and they insure that the system remains stable. Within the police one can identify all of the different sources of power… [read more]
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — The deputy editor of Awramba Times, Woubshet Taye, who was arrested a week ago, June 19, may have been tortured by the interrogators at Maekelawi Prison, according to a family member.
It’s been 8 days since Woubshet has been picked up by heavily armed security forces and thrown in jail. So far no one has been allowed to visit him.
Another journalist, Reeyot Alemu, who was arrested last Monday, is also held {www:incommunicado}.
A relative of Woubshet told Ethiopian Review correspondent in Addis Ababa today that he fears Woubshet and the other prisoners are being tortured and urged press right groups to speak out on their behalf.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a statement condemning the arrests of Woubshet and Reeyot.
Since Friday, June 17, the Woyanne junta has been rounding up journalists and hundreds of suspected dissidents in a new wave of arrests.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Monday issued arrest warrants against Libyan leader Mummar Gaddafi and two of his high-ranking officials. The Pre-Trial Chamber I issued warrantsfor Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the “de facto Prime Minister,” and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi, the head of intelligence, for alleged crimes against the people of Libya to quell the revolt that began last February. Based on the materials provided to the Chamber by the Prosecutor’s office, the Chamber found reasonable grounds that between February 15 and February 28, 2011, Gaddafi not only conspired with the other two to {www:perpetrate} crimes against humanity against the people of Libya but took actions to cover-up the crimes. The Chamber noted:
There is also information which indicates that there was a campaign to cover up the alleged crimes through the following acts: (i) targeting journalists to prevent them from reporting events, and punishing them for having done so; (ii) repeatedly blocking satellite transmission of channels such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Hurra and disrupting internet and telecommunications services; (iii) confiscating laptops, cameras, mobile phones SD and SIM cards from persons stopped at checkpoints; (iv) removing dead bodies by the Security Forces including from the hospitals” and throwing of at least one body into a rubbish truck in Tripoli; (v) searching for wounded protesters in the Tripoli hospital; and (vi) leveling to the ground a Mosque which bore bullet holes as a result of an attack by the Security Forces in Al- Zawiyah; and (vii) removing evidence of mass graves in Al-Zawiyah.”
Libya is not a signatory of the Rome Statute granting the ICC its jurisdiction, and Gaddafi has refused to recognize its authority. Still, the Chamber noted that, “the official position of an individual, whether he or she is a national of a State party or of a State which is not party to the Statute, has no effect on the Court’s jurisdiction.”
Last week, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo presented the materials to Pre-Trial Chamber. He said his office had gathered “direct evidence” that shows Gaddafi personally ordered attacks on civilian protestors and that his forces used live ammunition on crowds, attacked civilians in their homes, used heavy weapons against people in funeral processions and placed snipers to shoot those leaving mosques after prayer services.
Moreno-Ocampo announced last month that his office was pursuing arrest warrants against Gaddafi and the two others in his “inner circle.” He said al-Islam was acting as Gaddafi’s “de facto Prime Minister” and called al-Sanussi Gaddafi’s “right-hand man” and “executioner.” At that time, Moreno-Ocampo said his office was almost prepared for trial, having collected quality testimony from some who have fled Libya. There have been numerous allegations of war crimes and human rights violations over the Libyan revolt which has persisted since February.
Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) decided to extend a mandate to an investigative panel instructing it to continue its investigation of human rights abuses in Libya, after it published a 92-page report. The report claims Libyan authorities have committed crimes against humanity such as acts constituting murder, imprisonment and other severe deprivations of physical liberties, torture, forced disappearances and rape “as part of a widespread or {www:systematic} attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack.”
New York (CPJ) — Ethiopian authorities have been holding a newspaper columnist incommunicado since Tuesday, local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Reeyot Alemu, a regular contributor to the independent weekly Feteh, was expected to spend the next four weeks in {www:preventive} detention under what appears to be Ethiopian regime’s sweeping anti-terrorism law.
Alemu, at left, is the second journalist picked up and held without charge in less than a week and taken into custody at the federal investigation center at Maekelawi Prison in the capital, Addis Ababa. Deputy Editor Woubshet Taye of the weekly Awramba Times has been held since Sunday, according to CPJ research.
Authorities have not disclosed the reason for Alemu’s arrest, but a local lawyer who requested {www:anonymity} for fear of government reprisals told CPJ that she has been transferred into preventive detention for a period of 28 days, pending further investigations. This is the minimum period for preventive detention under Ethiopia’s 2009 anti-terrorism law, according to legal experts. Ethiopia’s code of criminal procedure allows for preventative detention for a minimum of 14 days, they said.
Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon told CPJ on Friday that he was not immediately available to comment. Local journalists said they believe Alemu’s arrest could be related to her columns critical of the ruling EPRDF. Alemu’s June 17 column in Feteh criticized the EPRDF’s public fundraising methods for the Abay Dam project, and made parallels between Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, according to local journalists
“We condemn the ongoing detention of Reeyot Alemu without charge,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “Since Alemu is frequently critical of the government, we are concerned about the possible use of far-reaching and vaguely worded provisions of Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law to prosecute her. We call on authorities in Addis Ababa to release Alemu immediately.”
The sweeping anti-terrorism law criminalizes any reporting authorities deem to “encourage” or “provide moral support” to groups and causes the government labels as “terrorists.”
Alemu was picked up at a high school in Addis Ababa where she teaches English, according to local journalists. Police then searched her house, according to the same sources.
Ethiopia has six journalists currently behind bars, behind only Eritrea as the nation detaining the largest number of journalists in Africa. Eritrea holds at least 17 members of the press in its secret prisons, according to CPJ research.
New York (CPJ) — Ethiopian authorities have been holding a newspaper columnist incommunicado since Tuesday, local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Reeyot Alemu, a regular contributor to the independent weekly Feteh, was expected to spend the next four weeks in {www:preventive} detention under what appears to be Ethiopian regime’s sweeping