Caselist - PEN International

offence. However, it is thought that Asfha and Misghina might have beenarrested due to their close working relationship with foreigners and aprogramme broadcast on Radio Bana in January 2009 about participatorygovernment. Radio Bana produces educational programs for the Ministryof Education. Place of detention: May Srwa prison (Fisseha, Kiflu andMisghina); unknown (Asfha). Other information: Kiflu and Misghinawere reportedly first held at the Dobozito detention centre and then at themilitary prison in Adi Abeito, to the northwest of Asmara. Fisseha, whowas 27 at the time of her arrest, was initially taken to Adi Abeito but wassubsequently transferred to the nearby May Srwa prison. Misghina is saidto come from a very prominent family in Keren in northern Eritrea. Hewas reportedly tortured in 2002 after a screening of his film Fistametat.Asfha, who was thought to be aged 30 at the time of her arrest, is fromAdi Keyih in the south of the country. Kiflu is married with two children.Most recent information: On 18 February 2010, Reporters WithoutBorders reported that Fisseha, Kiflu and Misghina were being held inMay Srwa prison, to the north of the capital Asmara. On 23 May 2010,Reporters Without Borders said that Fisseha had been kept in solitaryconfinement for a number of weeks for unknown reasons. No further informationas of 30 June 2011. Update: Fisseha, Kiflu and Misghina werestill detained as of 16 September 2011, according to Reporters WithoutBorders. No mention of Asfha.Mulubrhan HABTEGEBRIEL: journalist for the independent newspapersMeqaleh and Setit, as well as an essayist, commentator and translatorfor Radio Zara and the state-run newspaper Hadas Eritrea. Date ofarrest: 2008. Reason for arrest: Not known. Place of detention: AdiAbeito military prison. Other information: Along with other prisoners(including Bereket Misghina and Meles Negusse Kiflu – see above), reportedlytaken to an unknown destination in armoured cars on the night of22 May 2009 before being sent back to Adi Abeito. No further news as of30 June 2011. Update: Still detained as of 16 September 2011, accordingto Reporters Without Borders.Wedi ITAY: freelance journalist, former journalist for Keste Debena;writer and essayist. Date of arrest: Unknown (reported by ReportersWithout Borders in September 2009). Place of detention: A hospital inAsmara. Other information: Itay was in his 40s at the time of his arrestand is now said to be seriously ill. He is reportedly a former member ofthe Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF). Update: Still detained asof 16 September 2011, according to Reporters Without Borders.ETHIOPIAImprisoned: main caseMartin SCHIBBYE: reporter for the Sweden-based news agency Kontinet,was arrested by Ethiopian security forces on 30 June or 1 July 2011while reporting on the activities of the Ogaden National Liberation Front(ONLF), armed separatists operating in the oil-rich province of Ogadenin eastern Ethiopia, and on alleged human rights abuses carried out bythe Ethiopian security forces. Schibbye (30) was arrested along with aphotojournalist for the same agency, Johan Persson (29). They were arrestedfollowing a battle between the ONLF and the Ethiopian army. Bothmen suffered light wounds. Charges: On 6 September 2011, Schibbyeand Persson appeared before a court in the capital Addis Ababa and werecharged with “terrorism and entering the country illegally.” Their lawyerswere reportedly not present at the hearing. The government claimed thatthe journalists were working with the ONLF, which it designates a terroristgroup. On 10 October 2011, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawimade public accusations that the two journalists were accomplices to terrorism.Schibbye and Persson were found guilt of ‘supporting terrorism’on 21 December 2011, and sentenced to 11 years in prison. [RAN 64/11and updates]Woubshet TAYE and Reeyot ALEMU (f): respectively deputy editorof the independent weekly Awramba Times and contributor to the independentweekly newspaper Feteh, have been imprisoned pending trialon charges of terrorism since June 2011. Details of arrest and detention:Taye was arrested at his home in Addis Ababa on 19 June 2011 by securityagents who confiscated various documents, cameras, CDs and copiesof Awramba Times, which provides in-depth political coverage. Alemuwas arrested two days later, on 21 June, at a secondary school where sheteaches English in Addis Ababa; her home was also searched by police.Both were initially detained incommunicado without charge. Reasons forarrests: The authorities did not disclose the reason for the arrests, but itwas suspected that both were detained under Ethiopia’s 2009 anti-terrorismlaw. It was thought that Taye’s detention could be due to his allegedsympathy for the banned political party Ginbot 7, which the Ethiopiangovernment recently designated as a terrorist organisation. Alemu’s arrestwas thought to be related to her articles criticising the ruling EPRDF party.Her 17 June column in Feteh was reportedly critical of the EPRDF’spublic fundraising methods for the Abay Dam project, and drew parallelsbetween Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the Libyan leader MuammarGaddafi. Charges: On 6 September 2011, Taye and Alemu appearedbefore Ethiopia’s High Court and were charged under the antiterrorismlaw. Their lawyers said they did not have any details about the chargesas they were not notified of the hearing and as a result could not attend.Terrorism charges were also filed in absentia against Elias Kifle, editorof the US-based antigovernment website Ethiopian Review; Kifle livesin exile in the USA. The journalists reportedly face life imprisonmentif convicted. Update: according to reports, the defendants were due topresent their defence on 21 December 2011, and a verdict was expectedon 19 January 2012. Place of detention: Both are being held at the federalinvestigation centre at Maekelawi Prison in the capital Addis Ababa.Treatment in prison/ health concerns: During a court hearing in August,Taye said that he had been tortured by state officials while he was beinginterrogated in prison. As of early September he was reportedly sufferingfrom pain in his ear and stomach as a result of beatings, but had not beengiven any medical treatment. Alemu’s physical and psychological stateof health was said to have seriously deteriorated in prison and as of earlySeptember she was said to be extremely weak. Her relatives had beenallowed to visit her and bring her medicines but she had not received anytreatment from doctors. Both journalists said they had been denied accessto a lawyer during their interrogation. Background: The managing editorof Awramba Times, Dawit Kebede (see below), is reportedly the target ofongoing harassment by the authorities and by the pro-government media.[RAN 34/11 and updates]Imprisoned: investigationAkram EZEDIN: acting editor of the privately owned Islamic weeklynewspaper Al-Quds, based in the capital Addis Ababa, has reportedlybeen detained without charge since 11 September 2010. Ezedin (17 atthe time of his arrest) took over the running of the newspaper in Januarywhen his father, Ezedin Mohamed, editor of Al-Quds, was sentencedto one year in prison for a 2008 column criticizing statements made byPrime Minister Meles Zenawi during an interview with the British newspaperThe Guardian (see previous case list). On 11 September 2010,Ezedin Mohamed was released and Akram Ezedin was arrested, reportedlyon the basis of articles critical of the performance of Afar’s localIslamic Council or Mejilis, published by Al-Quds in July. Akram Ezedinwas reportedly being held in a prison in Asaita, the regional capital ofAfar and had reportedly appeared in Afar’s court four times but was yetto be charged. Pre-trial detention is illegal under Ethiopia’s Mass Mediaand Freedom of Information Proclamation. Moreover, as Al-Quds is anational newspaper, any case against it should be heard in a federal not astate court. As of October 2010, Akram Ezedin was still in detention. Nofurther news as of 31 December 2011; PEN is seeking confirmation thathe is still imprisoned. [Update #1 to RAN 07/10]On trialTemesgen DESALEGNE: editor of Amharic-language weekly Fitih, hasreportedly had more than 30 charges brought against him by the stateprosecutor. He was summoned by police on 22 January 2011 to hear thecharges, which included “tarnishing the image of the ruling coalition”,and was released after posting bail of US$500. Fitih also recently faced alibel suit by a parliamentarian, and in 2010 was prosecuted by the EthiopianBroadcast Agency, a state body in charge of issuing licenses. Nofurther news on the charges as of 31 December 2011.Dawit KEBEDE and Wesenseged GEBREKIDAN: editors of AwrambaTimes and Harambe respectively, are on trial for “incitement.” Arrest:On 7 August 2008, Kebede and Gebrekidan were arrested and releasedon bail. Charges: The police were reportedly acting on orders from theMinistry of Justice, which had requested a criminal investigation into thetwo papers. Awramba Times was charged for an editorial, interview andopinion piece that had appeared in five different issues, while Harambewas charged for an editorial and opinion piece that had appeared inthree separate issues. Background: At the beginning of August 2008,Awramba Times had been warned by police that they would block thedistribution of the newspaper if it persisted in covering the political oppositionmovement, Ginbot 7. Ginbot 7, which is named after the day onwhich the disputed 2005 elections were held, is led by Berhanu Nega,a formerly imprisoned academic now in exile (see previous case lists).Kebede and Gebrekidan were jailed alongside Nega in 2005 and spent21 months in jail before being released on a conditional pardon in August2007. Trial: In late February 2009, it was reported that the public prosecutorhad filed criminal charges against both Kebede and Gebrekidanat the federal court. Both were granted bail. Gebrekidan was unable topay post bail and was imprisoned for a few weeks until local journalistsraised the money. If convicted, the journalists face a possible prisonsentence. UPDATE: Kebede went into exile in mid November 2011. Hesaid that he was forced to leave the country after he received a tip aboutalleged government plans to re-imprison him. Kebede also said that thepaper was unlikely to continue publishing. No further news on the trialas of 31 December 2011; PEN seeking an update. Awards: On 23 November2010, Kebede was given the Committee to Protect Journalists’International Press Freedom Award for “risking his freedom and securityto report the truth as he sees it in his country.”On Trial*Eskinder NEGA, Sileshi HAGOS: respectively journalist and formermanaging director of now-defunct political magazine, Change, werearrested on 9 and 14 September 2011 under Ethiopia’s sweeping antiterroristlegislation. They were accused of involvement with the bannedpolitical party Ginbot 7 and appeared before a court on 15 Septemberwhere they were remanded in custody for 28 days. There are concernsthat Nega has been ill-treated in detention. Local journalists suspect thatsome of Nega’s latest writings criticizing the government’s arrest of thefamed Ethiopian actor Debebe Eshetu on terrorism charges, triggeredhis arrest. Hagos is the fiancé of journalist Reeyot Alemu, who has beenimprisoned under terrorism charges since July 2011 (see above). Hagosand Nega will be in police custody until October 12, in order to allowthe police to carry out their investigations. Police forbade visitors in thecourtroom when Nega was in court. Shortly after Hagos and Nega werearrested, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Frontcontrolledstate television portrayed them as “spies for foreign forces”and accused them of harboring links with Ginbot 7. Update: Eskinder wascharged under terrorism legislation on 11 November 2011. He is accusedof having a relationship with the leaders of Ginbot 7, plotting terrorist actsand inciting the public to overthrow the government, passing such informationto Ginbot 7 and the enemy state of Eritrean, and calling/organizingand leading meeting that summoned for the purpose of terroristgoals. Background: Nega was previously briefly arrested and detained bythe federal police on 11 February 2011 after leaving an internet café inAddis Ababa. He was accused of attempting to incite protests similar tothose that took place in Egypt and Tunisia in early 2011 in articles he hadrecently posted online, in particular one posted a week earlier in which hedefended the right to peaceful protest. He was warned that this article wasviewed as an attempt to undermine the army and that he would be heldresponsible for any protests that took place in Ethiopia. Nega was jailedalong with his wife, journalist Serkalem Fasil, between 2005 and 2007on treason charges for their coverage of protests that followed the 2005legislative elections.*Mesfin NEGASH and Abiye TEKELEMARIAM: journalists forAddisnegeronline.com and based in Sweden and the UK respectively,were charged in absentia on 11 November 2011, with supporting terroristorganizations through allegedly giving them a platform via their website.Threatened – Gone into Exile*Argaw ASHINE: reporter for the Kenyan newspaper, Daily Nation, andchairman of the Ethiopian Environment Journalists Association, fledEthiopia in September 2011after being threatened and is now residing inan unknown location. He was cited in a US diplomatic Wikileaks cableand, as a result, was interrogated by officials seeking the identity of hisgovernment source referred to in a 2009 cable about press harassment.He said he fled after he was summoned for intensive questioning byofficials from the Government Communication Affairs Office (GCAO)on two occasions and a third time by the police.”I was summoned bythe police and they clearly told me that I have two choices, disclose mysource, otherwise face any possible consequences. We have this antiterrorismbill and according to that law I [could] face 20 years in prisonwith a single charge,” he said.*Abebe TOLLA: newspaper satirist for the Amharic newspapers Feteh andAwramba Times went into exile in mid-November 2011 after receiving aseries of threats from government agents. Tolla’s satires were generallypolitical. Tolla, also known as Abé Tokichaw, has been particularly criticalof Ethiopia’s ruling party, accusing them of confusing ordinary people inattempts to explain policies to constituents. He fled Ethiopia fearing imprisonmentin retaliation for his critical news commentaries. Tolla’s persecutionstarted in May 2011, when a state security agent began trying to forceTolla to become a police informer. Tolla refused, and he was threatenedwith imprisonment. Tolla was also ordered to stop writing satires; again,he refused. On 9 November 2011, Tolla was told that he would be chargedunder Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism legislation and was accused of havingcontact with an outlawed opposition group, Ginbot 7. Tolla maintains thathe is apolitical and that he has no contact with Ginbot 7.