Ethiopia Jails Journalist for Criticizing PM Zenawi's Comments
IPI Concerned about Deteriorating Press Freedom
Naomi Hunt
An Ethiopian editor was sentenced to one year in prison on Friday for criticising comments about religious affairs made by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in an interview with Britain’s the Guardian newspaper early last year, according to media reports.
The judge is currently considering the journalist's request that he be allowed to pay a fine instead of serving the sentence.
Ezeden Mohammed is the editor of Ethiopia’s largest Islamic weekly, Hekima.
In the interview, Zenawi talked about a “growing Islamist threat” in the region, and accused Eritrea of, with the help of several Sunni Arab states, “destabilizing the African nations” in the Horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia.
The sentence comes shortly before an expected Ethiopian Supreme Court ruling in the case of four media houses that were shut during a media crackdown in 2005. The government is now seeking payment of heavy fines from the Serkalem, Sisay, Zekarias and Fasil publishing houses, despite lower court rulings overturning the fines, alongside charges of high treason and genocide, in 2007, according to local news sources. The issuing of publishing licenses to independent news outlets resumed last year. But the four publishers, who spent months in prison before they were pardoned in 2007, continue to be denied licenses.
“We call on the Ethiopian government to release Ezeden Mohammed, who has committed no crime other than to express views contrary to those of the government,” said IPI Director David Dadge. “Ethiopia must recognize that a plurality of voices is healthy for Ethiopian society, and take steps to protect rather than punish the independent media.”
In November 2009, Dadge led an IPI press freedom mission to Ethiopia to meet with journalists and government officials for discussions on the media environment there. He reported that while the climate had improved since the sweeping crackdown in 2005, the government retains a “lingering desire to exert influence over the media.”
In December 2009, independent newspaper Addis Neger was forced to close, and at least eight editors and staff fled the country after receiving information that they were to be prosecuted under a new anti-terrorism law.
The law, which has been heavily criticized by human rights groups for its vague wording and heavy penalties, provides for prison terms of up to 20 years for anyone who writes or publishes information that is seen to support or encourage terrorism.
Only days after the Addis Neger journalists left Ethiopia, plainclothes police attacked and beat staff member Solomon Daba. Daba, an administrator not involved in the editorial management of the paper, who had been given the task of ensuring its legal closure after the manager and editors had left the country, General Manager Mesfin Negash told IPI at the time.