Minority media rights, terrorism laws at issue in Roj TV case
French satellite provider Eutelsat announced yesterday it is suspending Kurdish satellite station Roj TV after a Danish court last week levied a hefty fine against the satellite station for promoting terrorism. Eutelsat’s decision comes despite Roj TV’s appeal before the Danish High Court, which is pending. The case has implications for how media content is…
Ethiopia charges six journalists with terrorism
New York, November 11, 2011–A judge in Ethiopia’s federal high court charged six journalists with terrorism on Thursday under the country’s antiterrorism law, bringing the number of journalists charged under the statute since June to 10, CPJ research found.
Ethiopia media gagged by anti-terror laws
CPJ’s East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes and Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita are featured in an article from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism highlighting Ethiopia’s draconian anti-terror laws and how they are used to muzzle journalists. Click here for the full story.
Zenawi calls jailed Swedish journalists terror accomplices
New York, October 11, 2011–Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s public accusations on Monday against two imprisoned Swedish journalists compromise the presumption of their innocence and predetermine the outcome of their case, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalists were arrested in Ethiopia in July and charged with terrorism for associating with armed separatists.In…
Ethiopia accuses two jailed journalists of terrorism plot
New York, June 29, 2011–The Ethiopian government today publicly today accused an editor and a columnist of involvement in a terrorism plot, according to news reports and local journalists. Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the leading Awramba Times newspaper and Reeyot Alemu, columnist for the weekly Feteh, have been held incommunicado under Ethiopia’s far-reaching anti-terrorism…
Ethiopian journalist likely held under anti-terrorism law
New York, June 23, 2011–Ethiopian authorities have been holding a newspaper columnist incommunicado since Tuesday, local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Reeyot Alemu, a regular contributor to the independent weekly Feteh, was expected to spend the next four weeks in preventive detention under what appears to be Ethiopia’s sweeping anti-terrorism law. Alemu,…
In Ethiopia, anti-terrorism law chills reporting on security
How can an Ethiopian reporter cover the activities of Ethiopia’s leading opposition figure, Berhanu Nega, or an attack by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels without risking prosecution and a 20-year prison sentence? Such questions have haunted Ethiopian journalists since a far-reaching anti-terrorism law came into effect in 2009. The law criminalizes any reporting…