Special Reports
Languishing in prison since the fall of 2001, prominent Eritrean journalist Fesshaye Yohannes staged a hunger strike on March 31 with nine other colleagues in hopes of spurring their release. Instead, government officials transferred the journalists to an undisclosed location–and no one has heard from them since.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the recent jailing of Melese Shine, editor-in-chief of the Amharic-language weekly Ethiop. Another journalist, Tewodros Kassa, the former editor-in-chief of Ethiop, has been imprisoned since May 2002. Shine was charged with defamation under Ethiopia’s Press Proclamation No. 34/1992 after a letter to the…
Attacks on the Press 2002: Africa Analysis
Although the Kenya-based East African Standard, one of Africa’s oldest continuously published newspapers, marked its 100th anniversary in November, journalism remains a difficult profession on the continent, with adverse government policies and multifaceted economic woes still undermining the full development of African media.
Attacks on the Press 2002: Ethiopia
In early December, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi surprised his detractors by inviting them to a series of debates on government policies and the future of the country. The organizer of the unprecedented forum, an independent association known as the Inter Africa Group, said the goal was to foster “the exchange of views between the government…
Journalists’ association suspended
ETHIOPIA: New York, November 12, 2003—The Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) has received a letter from the Justice Ministry, announcing that the organization is suspended, because of failure to comply with audit and licensing requirements. EFJA president, Kifle Mulat, says the organization is being targeted for political reasons, but the government says EFJA has…
Dangerous Assignments: Fall / Winter 2002
Featuring stories on: Eritrea and Ethiopia (cover story) West Bank: Roadblock for Journalists Elusive Justice in the Philippines Interview with Joel Schumacher, director of “Veronica Guerin” Click here to download PDF file (1 mega). Please wait a few minutes for download to begin. Don’t have Acrobat Reader? Click here to download a FREE copy from…
CPJ DELEGATION CALLS ON GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA TO STOP RESTRICTIONS ON JOURNALISTS
Addis Ababa, July 25, 2002—After a five-day fact-finding mission to Ethiopia, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found that the Ethiopian government is planning alarming changes to the country’s 10-year-old press laws that would severely restrict the rights of Ethiopia’s already beleaguered private press corps. Although Information Minister Simon Bereket told…