In Ethiopia, drawn out Zone 9 trial serves to further punish bloggers
On Friday the Zone 9 bloggers are due to appear in court in Ethiopia for the 39th time since their arrest in April 2014. Endalk Chala, a co-founder of the group which is being honored with an International Press Freedom Award from CPJ this year, provides an overview of the drawn out trial and finds…
Balancing Act
Digital Europe The EU has been striving to recover what Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger described at a May 2015 press conference as digital sovereignty in a global market dominated by U.S. companies, but if this ambition is not strictly framed by human rights standards, press freedom on the Internet may be…
CPJ Announces 2015 International Press Freedom Awards
Awardees from Ethiopia, Malaysia, Paraguay, and Syria New York, September 15, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor journalists from Ethiopia, Malaysia, Paraguay, and Syria with the 2015 International Press Freedom Awards. The journalists have endured death threats, physical attacks, legal action, imprisonment, or exile in the course of their work.
Ethiopia releases imprisoned journalist Reeyot Alemu
New York, July 9, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from prison today of Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu, a critical columnist who has been jailed since June 2011 on terrorism charges. Reeyot was sentenced in 2012 to 14 years in prison, which was reduced to five years on appeal. Reeyot told CPJ today…
Ethiopia releases five journalists, drops all charges against them
Nairobi, July 8, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from prison today of two bloggers affiliated with the independent Ethiopian collective Zone 9 and three other journalists. All charges have been dropped against them, according to exiled Ethiopian journalists who spoke to CPJ and a report by the pro-government Fana Radio. The journalists–editor…
With limited independent press, Ethiopians left voting in the dark
On Sunday Ethiopians go to the polls in the country’s fifth general election since the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front came to power more than 20 years ago. Citizens are expected to choose the right party to lead them for the next five years. To do so, they need to have a clear understanding…
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, April 2015
CPJ launches annual publication Attacks on the Press At a U.N. press conference on April 27 to launch CPJ’s annual publication Attacks on the Press, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon called on the U.N. Security Council to include in its May 27 debate on Journalist Safety a warning to states that they should not use…
Conflating terrorism and journalism in Ethiopia
At the Lideta courthouse in Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa, stands a statue of a blindfolded woman holding a set of scales in her outstretched hand–a universal symbol of justice, here cast in metal of pinkish gold and wearing thick braids in her hair.
One year after arrest Zone 9 bloggers remain imprisoned as trial drags on
It will be one year this weekend since six bloggers were arrested in Addis Ababa, just days after the group announced on Facebook that their Zone 9 blog would resume publishing after seven months of inactivity. As the anniversary of the arrests approaches on Saturday, Soleyana S. Gebremichale, one of the Zone 9 founders who…
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, March 2015
Press Uncuffed: Free the Press On March 26, CPJ partnered with students at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism and Knight chair and Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Dana Priest to launch the Press Uncuffed: Free the Press campaign at the Newseum in Washington. The campaign aimed to raise awareness about nine…