(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has hailed a 24 December 2004 federal high court decision to reverse a 13-month-old government ban on the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) as a “victory for the EFJA and a step forward for press freedom in Ethiopia.” But the organisation warned that vigilance is still needed in Ethiopia as the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has hailed a 24 December 2004 federal high court decision to reverse a 13-month-old government ban on the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) as a “victory for the EFJA and a step forward for press freedom in Ethiopia.”
But the organisation warned that vigilance is still needed in Ethiopia as the situation of its news media continues to be very precarious.
“Journalists fear the imminent adoption of a law that will allow the authorities to throw them in prison just for ‘making mistakes in their articles’, while the foreign press remains closely monitored,” RSF said. “At the same time, Ethiopians still do not have access to independent television and radio,” the organisation added.
The federal high court ruling declared the Justice Ministry’s November 2003 ban on the EFJA to be “illegal”. It also dissolved an organisation created by the ministry to replace the EFJA and ordered the ministry to pay the EFJA’s legal costs. The court also annulled a system for electing the EFJA leadership that had been imposed by the ministry, making only EFJA members eligible to form the organisation’s governing body.
