Six journalists and bloggers were released from prison this week in
Ethiopia just before US President Barack Obama’s visit to the country
later this month. Meanwhile, reports circulate that another journalist
has been arrested by the oppressive government.
Most of the writers were imprisoned for their affiliation with Zone9, a
blog critical of the Ethiopian government. Their release is likely due
to both active campaigning by rights organizations and President Obama’s
impending visit.
Zelalem Kiberet, Mahlet Fantahun, Edom Kassaye, Tesfalem Waldyes, and
Asmamaw Hailegiorgis were arrested on charges of incitement and
terrorism in April 2014, while Reeyot Alemu has been imprisoned since
2011. Mrs. Alemu suffers from breast cancer and her deteriorating health
was a focal point for the campaign for her release.
Most of the writers were imprisoned for their affiliation with Zone9,
a blog critical of the Ethiopian government. Their release is likely
due to both active campaigning by rights organizations and President
Obama’s impending visit.
Susan Valentine of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which
has been pressing for the writers’ release, said that nothing in the
evidence against them has changed. “Nothing whatsoever. There were no
court decisions, and there’s been no documentation given to anyone who’s
been released,” she said.
Exiled Zone9 blogger Soliyana S. Gebremichael agrees that it is
difficult to determine the exact reason the government let the writers
go. “The reason given by the government is that the public prosecution
dropped the cases,” she said in an interview with SaharaTV. “But on the
other side we know that the international community had been pushing the
Ethiopian government specifically for our case."
The CPJ currently ranks Ethiopia as fourth on its list of the 10 Most
Censored Countries and says that at least 11 other journalists are
still in prison.
On the heels of the uplifting news, reports on Twitter say that
another Ethiopian journalist, Habtamu Minale, was arrested by security
officers this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment