Ethiopian media crackdown continues, 11 journalists now facing charges
ADDIS ABABA, July 5 (AFP) — A crackdown on independent media in Ethiopia begun after deadly post-election violence last month has continued with 11 journalists now facing various charges and the credentials of five others revoked, officials said Tuesday.
In the last one week, the country’s police have arrested 11 journalists working for private Amharic-language weeklies but were been released on bail pending a decision from the prosecutor whether to charge them with defamation on complaints from the defence ministry.
The first batch of six editors were arrested on June 28 for allegedly defaming the air force, when they reported that eight pilots on a training program in Belarus had asked for political asylum there after deadly election-related clashes earlier last month.
Last Thursday, five other editors were detained for several hours for their coverage that allegedly depicted the police and as brutal and accused the country’s main orthodox church for failing to criticise Addis Ababa over the government for the June 8 violent crackdown that left 39 demonstrators dead.
But on Tuesday, the defence ministry said it was justified to order the arrest of the 11 journalists and warned the weeklies against running stories that are “defamatory and baseless”.
“The national defence forces have the responsibility of keeping the country’s territorial integrity and intervening to stabilise in the event of violent events (that are) beyond the capacity of the police force,” defence ministry official Major-General Alemu Ayele said in a statement broadcast by state-run media.
The arrests sparked sparked howls of protest from global media watchdogs, which urged the international community to press the Ethiopian government to halt its crackdown independent media.
In addition to that, the government last month revoked the press credentials of five local journalists working for the US-funded Voice of America and German radio Deutsche Welle, accusing them of reporting false information in the aftermath of disputed elections last month.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in separate statements released in June, said they were deeply troubled by the developments.
“Journalists are becoming increasingly unwelcome observers during this period of political unrest and the government is clearly unwilling to tolerate any criticism,” RSF said, calling on the international community to pressure the Ethiopian government to stop the “spiral of repression.”
“CPJ is deeply troubled by your government’s harassment and censorship of journalists reporting on matters of public concern,” the group said in an open letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
The country’s opposition claimed that the ruling party rigged its way to victory in the landmark May 15 elections, sparking deadly clashes between demonstrators and security forces.