Ethiopia frees imprisoned journalists ahead of Obama’s visit
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
July 10, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopia government on Thursday has unexpectedly released six journalists who had been accused on terrorism related charges.
The move comes only two weeks before US president, Barack Obama’s, planned visit to the horn of Africa’s nation.
Among those freed is Ethiopian journalist, Reeyot Alemu, a critical columnist who has been jailed since June 2011.
Alemu was sentenced in 2012 to 14 years in prison on terrorism charges which later was reduced to five years on appeal.
She was convicted in 2011 of “participating in a terrorist organization and preparing a terrorist act”
The journalist told Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) that she was happy to be free and that her health was “okay” but that she was still taking painkillers. The journalist suffered from breast tumours while in prison.
She was a columnist for the now-closed national weekly Fitih and is considered as one of the 100 press freedom “heroes” according to RSF.
“We are elated that Reeyot Alemu has been released, but she should never have been jailed in the first place. She served more than four years while in poor health and under often restrictive conditions,” said CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, Sue Valentine.
Several journalists including four bloggers, as well as others from the independent collective Zone 9 group remain behind bars many of them sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
CPJ has welcomed the release but called on Ethiopian authorities to free all journalists imprisoned in relation to their journalistic work.
According to CPJ currently over 12 other journalists still remain imprisoned, most of them on terrorism charges.
The press freedom campaigner group says Ethiopia is the second worst jailer of journalists in Africa, after its neighbour Eritrea.
Ethiopia is ranked 142nd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
The move to free the journalists also comes only few days before the UN-organized Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which is due to start in Addis Ababa on 13 July.
Reporters Without Borders has welcomed the release but said such releases must not be carried out just because it is convenient in the run-up to a major international conference.
“The new government must reverse policy on freedom of information and allow other releases so that journalists are able to work without threat of arrest. Freedom of information is an essential part of development” said Cléa Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF Africa desk.
“We can obviously only be relieved by the announcement of these releases, especially considering the conditions in Ethiopia’s jails,”
Obama is due to visit Ethiopia, a key security partner of US, later this month and expected to confer with Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn on a number of national and regional issues.
The US president is also due to address the African Union (AU) at its Addis Ababa headquarters.
His tour to Africa which includes a trip to Kenya is said to be his last tour to the continent.
His travel to Addis Ababa will make Obama the first US sitting president to visit Ethiopia.
(ST)