Ethiopia: Telecom surveillance chills rights
The Ethiopian government is using foreign technology to bolster its widespread telecom surveillance of opposition activists and journalists both in Ethiopia and abroad, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on 25 March 2014.
Transparency group should reject Ethiopia’s membership due to its restrictions on civil society
A major global initiative to encourage governments to better manage natural resource revenues should reject Ethiopia’s bid for membership due to its harsh restrictions on civil society, Human Rights Watch said today.
27-year jail sentence for Somali journalist in Ethiopia a “travesty of justice”
The African Freedom of Expression Exchange condemns the 27-year sentence imposed on Mohamed Aweys Mudey and notes that the Ethiopian media environment is characterized by the arrest of journalists.
Somali journalist given 27-year prison sentence under Ethiopia’s anti-terror law
According to Mohamed Aweys Mudey’s family, the journalist was sentenced to 27 years in prison in the last week of February 2014, under Ethiopia’s anti-terror law. He did not have a lawyer or family member with him during his trial.
Surveillance follows Ethiopian political refugee to the U.K.
After suffering years of persistent harassment at the hands of his oppressive government, Tadesse Kersmo escaped Ethiopia in 2009. It was only a few years later he discovered that he had been followed from Ethiopia to England. Tadesse appears to have been tracked through his computer via a Trojan that is part of a commercial intrusion kit called FinFisher.
Press freedom groups call for immediate release of Ethiopia’s jailed journalists
In a letter to Prime Minster Hailemariam Desalegn, global press organisations called on the Ethiopian authorities to unconditionally release Eskinder Nega, and four other journalists: Solomon Kebede, Wubset
Taye, Reyot Alemu and Yusuf Getachew. All are serving jail sentences through the misuse of Ethiopia’s anti-terror legislation.
New report calls on Ethiopia to reform repressive anti-terror law
Dozens of journalists and political activists have been arrested or sentenced under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009, including five journalists who are serving prison sentences and who at times have been denied access to visitors and legal counsel.
Ethiopian journalist on prison odyssey needs medical care
Woubshet Taye, an award-winning journalist imprisoned since 2011 under Ethiopia’s broad anti-terrorism laws, suffers from a severe kidney infection and is being denied medical care.
Two IFEX members call for release of imprisoned journalists in Ethiopia
The International Press Institute (IPI) and World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) urged the Ethiopian government to release five journalists imprisoned under the country’s anti-terrorism laws, ahead of the African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF) taking place in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
Canadian free expression group denounces mistreatment of journalists in Ethiopian prisons
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression is troubled by the illegal detention of journalists and other dissenting voices in Ethiopian state prisons, particularly in light of reports that these individuals have been denied basic needs and subjected to physical abuse.
Ethiopian dissidents, journalists tortured in prison
Human Rights Watch interviewed individuals from Maekelawi detention centre, who described how officials denied their basic needs and mistreated them to extract information.
Ethiopian editor illegally arrested and removed from Addis Abada
The editor of the Amharic-language version of the independent big-circulation weekly The Reporter, Desmisse was arrested for unclear reasons in his office on 9 October, taken to a police station in the Addis Ababa suburb of Bole, and from there was taken more than 250 km south of Addis Ababa to Awasa.
Jailed Ethiopian journalist goes on hunger strike to protest visit restrictions
Reeyot Alemu, a critical columnist of the banned private weekly Feteh, began a hunger strike on 11 September to protest an order by Kality Prison officials to turn in a list of visitors.
An open letter to John Kerry: Tell Ethiopia to release Eskinder Nega and stop imprisoning bloggers
The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls upon U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to speak out on the imprisonment of dissident blogger Eskinder Nega.
A year after long time leader’s death, NGOs, opposition groups and journalists still repressed in Ethiopia
The death of Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi in August 2012 sparked hope that the ruling party would undertake reforms to loosen restrictions imposed on civil society, the media, and opposition parties. However, one year into the administration of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Meles’s successor, not much has changed.
Two Ethiopian journalists held for a week without charge
Darsema Sori and Khalid Mohammed have been detained without charge since 2 August. The journalists work for Radio Bilal, a station that has provided extensive coverage of ongoing anti-government protests staged by Ethiopian Muslims.