**Updates IFEX alert of 1 October 1999** (RSF/IFEX) – In letters addressed to Ali Abdi Farah, Djibouti’s minister of foreign affairs, and Wolde Woredewolde, the Ethiopian minister of justice, RSF protested the detention of Amir Adaweh, the Djibouti-born editor-in-chief of “La République”, the newspaper of the National Democratic Party (PND, opposition). RSF asked for the […]
**Updates IFEX alert of 1 October 1999**
(RSF/IFEX) – In letters addressed to Ali Abdi Farah, Djibouti’s minister of foreign affairs, and Wolde Woredewolde, the Ethiopian minister of justice, RSF protested the detention of Amir Adaweh, the Djibouti-born editor-in-chief of “La République”, the newspaper of the National Democratic Party (PND, opposition). RSF asked for the journalist’s location and the reasons for his detention to be made public. “If it turns out that he is imprisoned because of his work as a journalist, we ask for his immediate release,” added Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general. RSF also recalled that Ethiopia has ratified the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
According to information gathered by RSF, Adaweh, a Djiboutian journalist and member of the executive committee of the PND, has been held at Harer (in the country’s east) for more than seven months in particularly harsh conditions. He and other people were reportedly arrested by Ethiopian police while on holiday. The reasons for the arrests remain unknown. The journalist’s jailers are reported to have recently fired at his legs, and Adaweh is said to have been taken to the nearest hospital.
