Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009journalists in prison: ethiopiaalarming blanket denials about the imprisonments.In a 2006 interview withCPJ, presidential spokesman YemaneGebremeskel denied that the journalistswere imprisoned because of whatthey had written, saying only that they“were involved in acts against the nationalinterest of the state.”In November 2009, a governmentspokesman went a step further, denyingentirely that journalists were beingheld by the government. “I am notaware of any imprisoned journalistsin our country,” asserted EmmanuelHadgo, a spokesman for the Ministryof Information.The case of Setit co-owner Isaac, anEritrean with Swedish citizenship, hasdrawn considerable attention in Sweden,where diplomats, journalists, andgrassroots activists campaigned for hisrelease. Isaac was briefly released fora medical checkup on November 19,2005, and allowed to phone his familyand a friend in Sweden. Despite hopesthat he would be freed, he was returnedto jail two days later with no explanation,according to his colleagues andrelatives. In March 2007, Sweden’s NationalPress Club awarded him its Freedomof Expression and Press Prize.Saleh Aljezeeri, Eritrean State RadioHamid Mohammed Said, Eri-TVIMPRISONED: February 15, 2002During a July 2002 fact-finding missionto the capital, Asmara, CPJ delegatesconfirmed that Eritrean authoritieshad arrested three state reporters inFebruary 2002 as part of the government’smass crackdown on the press,which began in September 2001.A reporter with the network’s Arabic-languageservice, Saadia Ahmed,was eventually released in early 2005,according to CPJ sources. Eri-TV reporterSaid and Eritrean State Radioreporter Aljezeeri remained imprisonedin an undisclosed location, accordingto local journalists.Ghirmai Abraham, Radio BanaIssak Abraham, Radio BanaYirgalem Fesseha, Radio BanaBereket Misguina, Radio BanaMeles Nguse, Radio BanaMulubruhan WeldegebrielRadio BanaIMPRISONED: Januaryand February 2009Eritrean security forces arrested six governmentjournalists as part of a crackdownon staffers connected to RadioBana, an Education Ministry-sponsoredstation in Asmara, according to severalCPJ sources. Authorities ordered the arrestsbased on suspicions that the journalistsand other staffers had providedinformation to foreign-based Eritreanopposition organizations and news Websites, according to the sources.The journalists were being held inMai Srwa and Adi Abieto militarycamps. Other non-journalist stafferswere also being held in late year.The journalists had worked for otherstate media. Ghirmai Abraham hadbeen producer of an arts program, andIssak Abraham had produced a Sundayentertainment show on state RadioDimtsi Hafash. Misguina (also afilm director and scriptwriter), Nguse(also a poet), and Fesseha (a poet aswell) were columnists for the staterundaily Hadas Eritrea. Weldegebrielwas the author of a column on celebritiesfor Hadas Eritrea.ETHIOPIA: 4Saleh Idris Gama, Eri-TVTesfalidet Kidane Tesfazghi, Eri-TVIMPRISONED: December 2006Since disclosing that they had Gamaand Tesfazghi in custody in April2007, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministryrepeatedly declined to provide informationabout the whereabouts, legalstatus, or health of the two Eritreanstate television journalists whom theEthiopian Foreign Ministry said wereamong 41 people “captured” in Somaliaon suspicion of terrorism.Tesfazghi, a producer, and Gama,a cameraman, were picked up by theKenyan authorities after the Ethiopianinvasion of Somalia and then handedover to the Ethiopian-backed Somalitransitional government in January2007, according to the Eritrean ForeignMinistry.In a video aired on state television,the Ethiopian government suggestedthe journalists were involved in militaryactivities in Somalia. While Eritreanjournalists were often conscript-ed into military service, the video didnot present any evidence linking thejournalists to military activity. A ForeignMinistry statement said somedetainees would be tried “before thecompetent military court” but did notidentify them by name.Government spokesman BereketSimon told CPJ in August 2008 thatcourt proceedings were pending, butdeclined to provide details. In October2009, Ethiopian Foreign Ministryspokesman Wahde Belay told CPJthat he had no information about thetwo journalists.Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, SalafiyyaAsrat Wedajo, Seife NebelbalIMPRISONED: August 24, 2009Federal High Court Judge ZewdineshAsres convicted Ali and Wedajo oncriminal code and press law chargesin connection with their coverage ofsensitive topics dating back a numberof years, according to local journalists.She sentenced them each to one yearin prison.Ali, editor of the weekly Muslim-orientednewspaper Salafiyya, was convictedin connection with a piece written bya guest columnist and published in 2007that criticized the Ministry of Education’sproposal to restrict headscarvesfor female Muslim students at publiceducational institutions, according todefense lawyer Temam Ababulgu.Wedajo, former editor of Seife Nebelbal,a now-defunct weekly that wasbanned amid the 2005 government324325