Ethiopia / Africa

  

Ethiopian journalist released from prison

New York, March 13, 2017–Authorities responsible for overseeing implementation of Ethiopia’s state of emergency today released Ethiopian commentator Anania Sorri.

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Two Radio Bilal journalists sentenced in Ethiopia on terror charges

New York, January 4, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the prison sentences handed down to two journalists from the Ethiopian faith-based station Radio Bilal. Khalid Mohamed and Darsema Sori were sentenced yesterday to prison terms of five years and six months and four years and five months respectively, the independent news website Addis…

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Darsema Sori, left, and Khalid Mohammed are convicted on terror charges in relation to their coverage of protests. (Bilal Communication)

Two Ethiopian radio journalists convicted on terror charges

Nairobi, December 21, 2016–Ethiopian radio journalists Khalid Mohammed and Darsema Sori, who have been imprisoned since February 2015, were today convicted on terrorism charges by the High Court’s 19th Criminal Bench, according to the independent Addis Standard newspaper.

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Turkey’s crackdown propels number of journalists in jail worldwide to record high

At least 81 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey, all of them facing anti-state charges, in the wake of an unprecedented crackdown that has included the shuttering of more than 100 news outlets. The 259 journalists in jail worldwide is the highest number recorded since 1990. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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Members of the Zone 9 blogging group. (Endalkachew H/Michael)

Ethiopian newspaper editor, bloggers caught in worsening crackdown

Nairobi, November 17, 2016–Ethiopia should immediately release all journalists detained amid an intensifying crackdown on the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In recent weeks, Ethiopian authorities have jailed a newspaper editor and detained two members of the award-winning Zone 9 bloggers’ collective, which has faced continuous legal harassment on terrorism and incitement…

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Police fire tear gas during a festival in Ethiopia's Oromia region. After months of protests, authorities have imposed a state of emergency that includes blocking access to social media. (Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

Ethiopia’s state of emergency cuts lines of communication and puts bloggers at risk of arrest

On October 4, I heard that my friend Natnael Feleke had not returned home even though it was approaching midnight in Ethiopia. Family and friends were discussing where to search for the blogger, who had only been released 11 months earlier from the notorious Kilinto prison, where he was held for 16 months over his…

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Protesters in Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, raise the Oromo protest sign ahead of an October 2, 2016, stampede that left more than 50 people dead after police fired teargas and warning shots to disperse the crowd. (Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

Police arrest prominent Ethiopian blogger

New York, October 3, 2016 – Ethiopian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release blogger Seyoum Teshome, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Teshome on October 1, according to press accounts and opposition activists.

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CPJ Newsletter: Exhibit of jailed photographer’s work moves to Photoville, journalist released from jail, and we join our partners at the UN

October edition Next stop for exhibit of Shawkan’s work: Photoville In mid-September, CPJ partnered with the Bronx Documentary Center to hold an exhibition of photographs taken by Mahmoud Abou Zeid, or Shawkan, a freelance journalist who has been imprisoned in Egypt since August 2013. Many of Shawkan’s photos–from protests and celebrations in Tahrir Square to…

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Ethiopian journalist Yusuf Getachew released from jail

New York, September 10, 2016–Ethiopian authorities today released Yusuf Getachew, editor-in-chief of Ye Muslimoch Guday (Muslim Affairs), who has been imprisoned since his arrest in July 2012, a relative of the journalist told CPJ. Yusuf was freed on the day that several prisoners were released as part of a presidential pardon for Ethiopia’s new year…

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Ethiopian police detain journalists reporting on drought, escort them back to capital

Ethiopian police on August 8, 2016, detained three journalists reporting on the effects of a severe drought in the country before escorting them back to Addis Ababa with a warning not to work outside the capital, the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Ethiopia said in a statement.

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