(CPJ) Ethiopian authorities should halt their harassment of journalists covering the country’s Muslim community and their intimidation of citizens who have tried to speak to reporters about sensitive religious, ethnic, and political issues, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Police in the capital, Addis Ababa, briefly detained Marthe Van Der Wolf, a reporter with the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America as she was covering a protest by members of Ethiopia’s Muslim community at the Anwar Mosque, local journalists said. The protesters were demonstrating against alleged government interference in Islamic Council elections scheduled for Sunday, according to VOA and local journalists.
Wolf was taken to a police station and told to erase her recorded interviews, and then released without charge, local journalists said… [read more]
Women from Ethiopia, Palestine, Azerbaijan and Pakistan honored
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Each year the IWMF honors women journalists who have shown extraordinary strength of character and integrity while reporting the news under dangerous or difficult circumstances.
This year’s winners are:
Reeyot Alemu, 31, an Ethiopian columnist currently imprisoned on charges of terrorism after writing critiques of her country’s government; Asmaa al-Ghoul, 30, a Palestinian blogger and freelance writer who has received death threats for her commentary on the culture and politics of Gaza; Khadija Ismayilova, 35, a radio reporter from Azerbaijan who was blackmailed and threatened after her investigation into charges of malfeasance against members of the Azerbaijani president’s family. These are the International Women’s Media Foundation’s 2012 Courage in Journalism Award winners.
“I am humbled to work in the same profession as these heroic women,” said Katty Kay, co-chair of the IWMF. “It is my honor to be involved with the IWMF as it recognizes their dedication and bravery. It is journalists like Reeyot, Asmaa and Khadija who set an example for all of us.”
The IWMF’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to Zubeida Mustafa, 70, a Pakistani journalist who has worked for three decades at Dawn, one her country’s oldest and most widely circulated English-language newspapers.
Theodore Boutrous, Jr., IWMF co-chair, said “A free and independent press is vital to freedom and liberty. The IWMF believes that no press is truly fee if women do not share an equal voice. As the first woman to work at Dawn, Zubeida blazed a trail for women journalists in Pakistan, changing hiring policies and mentoring young women. She showed that women journalists can cover serious topics such as healthcare and economic inequality.”
The 2012 awards will be presented during ceremonies in New York on Oct. 24 and in Los Angeles on Oct. 29.
“The IWMF is grateful to the Bank of America, National Presenting Sponsor of the Courage in Journalism Awards for the seventh year and steadfast supporter of heroic women journalists around the world,” said Elisa Lees Munoz, Acting Executive Director of the IWMF.
About the IWMF
Founded in 1990, the International Women’s Media Foundation is a vibrant global network dedicated to strengthening the role of women in the news media worldwide as a means to further freedom of the press. The IWMF network includes women and men in the media in more than 130 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.iwmf.org.
About the 2012 Courage in Journalism Award Winners
Reeyot Alemu, 31, worked as a columnist for independent Ethiopian newspaper Feteh until her arrest in June 2011. She was held without charge until September of that year, when she was accused of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and participation in a terrorist organization. The Ethiopian government presented articles Alemu wrote criticizing its actions as evidence at her trial, as well as telephone conversations she had regarding strictly peaceful protests. Based on these materials alone, a judge sentenced Alemu to 14 years in prison. Prior to these events, Alemu was one of her country’s only female reporters who wrote critically about the political climate in Ethiopia, including analysis of government figures. Now, Alemu has fallen ill in prison. Her associates suffer harassment because of their connections with her. Despite this, Alemu has rejected offers of clemency in return for information about her colleagues.
Asmaa al-Ghoul, 30, is a blogger and freelance writer working in Gaza. Her stories analyze social and political life in the Middle East, focusing on the ongoing divisions among Palestinians and abuses of civil rights by both internal and external forces in Gaza. In 2007, al-Ghoul wrote an article in the form of an open letter to her uncle, a Hamas commander, questioning the methods of certain entities claiming to seek peace for Palestine. The article resulted in al-Ghoul’s uncle threatening to kill her. This is not uncommon: al-Ghoul regularly receives death threats against her own life and that of her young son. She has been beaten by Hamas security forces while covering popular protests and went through a period of sleeping in her office for fear of being killed on her way home.
Khadija Ismayilova, 35, is a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijani service. She investigates corruption and power abuse among her country’s elite. In May of 2012, Ismayilova became the target of a massive smear campaign threatening to defame her and put her life at risk unless she stopped reporting. This included an anonymous letter with photos from surveillance cameras planted in Ismayilova’s apartment, depicting her in an intimate situation with her boyfriend. It was made clear that she would stop her reporting, or risk having the photos made public. In the largely Muslim country of Azerbaijan, “honor killings” still occur. This is not the first time Ismayilova has been the subject of attempts to silence her. She is the victim of regular slander campaigns in pro-government media. The Azerbaijani president has personally tried to have her fired. During the many attempts to discredit her, Ismayilova has refused to stop working and has publicly denounced her accusers.
More info: IWMF
It’s been 2 weeks now since the widow of Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi has been refusing to leave the prime minister’s residence in the National Palace. Azeb Mesfin, aka the mother of corruption, is causing a major embarrassment for the new prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, and his government by refusing to vacate the official residence of the prime minister as the law requires. He is also exposed to security threats by having to travel to the National Palace every morning from his home in the Bole neighborhood of Addis Ababa. Hailemariam was sworn in two weeks ago, Friday, September 21.
By William Davison
(Bloomberg) — Today, several thousand Ethiopian Muslims protested in the capital, Addis Ababa, against what they say is government interference in the election of Islamic council leaders, a participant said.
An election for the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council is scheduled to be held on Oct. 7, for the first time in 12 years. Some Muslims will boycott the elections, which the government is trying to force them to vote in, demonstrator Mudessa Omar said.
“Let us vote for our own people,” Mudessa said in an interview outside Anwar Mosque, the capital’s largest Mosque and site of the demonstration. “The government has candidates that don’t represent the people.”
Some Muslims in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, have been objecting to alleged government interference in religious affairs for a year. The government has said the movement is led by extremists who want to create an Islamic state in the nation of 94 million people. About a third of them are Muslims, according to the C.I.A World Factbook.
Muslims cast their vote “en masse” in a first round of voting to choose electoral officers on Sept. 30 and are registered to vote on Oct. 7, State Minister of Communications Shimeles Kemal said.
“This is a last desperate attempt to prevent people from casting their vote,” he said by phone from the capital today. “The vast majority have rejected extremism.”
Police on July 19 arrested some Muslim leaders they accused of sparking violent demonstrations in the capital. Some demonstrators today chanted to demand their release, protester Nuru Maradi said in an interview outside the mosque.
The year 2012 is coming to an end in about two months and so it is time for Ethiopian Review to start the process of selecting its Person of the Year. As a long running Ethiopian Review tradition, we take the Person of the Year selection seriously. Please share with us your choice with convincing argument. The selection criteria is: Who made the impost important contribution to the freedom and betterment of Ethiopian since the starting of 2012?
Addis Ababa residents confirmed to Ethiopian Review that ESAT is back on air. ESAT also issued the following press release:
ESAT has finalizing testing and is back on air in Ethiopia through New Horn TV.
ESAT Management would like to announce that it has resumed its satellite TV program transmission to
Ethiopia and neighbouring countries thru New Horn TV.
For the past few days the signal has been successfully tested. The details are as follows:
NEW HORN TV Satellite
Eutelsat 7 West
Frequency: 10815 MHz
Polarity: Horizontal
Symbol Rate: 27.5 MB or 27500
FEC 5/6
ESAT Management would like to encourage all viewers and ESAT supporters all around the world to
send the information to friends and family in Ethiopia as well as provide feedback on the quality of the
transmission and reception. @ +15713051637.
ESAT Management
[email protected]
