New York, August 8, 2005—Ethiopia’s Supreme Court has sentenced a newspaper editor to one month in jail on a contempt charge after the editor refused to identify an unnamed source who criticized an earlier court ruling. The editor of a second paper was fined in a related case. Tamrat Serbesa, editor-in-chief of the private Amharic-language…
New York, July 8, 2005—Ethiopia’s Supreme Court yesterday ordered three newspaper executives to reveal the name of a lawyer their newspapers cited anonymously as criticizing a recent court decision. One of the three, Tamrat Serbesa, editor-in-chief of the private Amharic-language weekly Satanaw, was jailed overnight and released after posting bail. He and the other newspaper…
JUNE 30, 2005 Posted: July 12, 2005 Tadesse Kabede, Lisane Hezeb Fassil Yenalem, Addis ZenaDaniel Gezahegne, Moged LEGAL ACTION The editors of three private weeklies were arrested and charged in connection with their work, according to CPJ sources and the Addis Ababa-based Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA). Kabede, Yenalem, and Gezahegne were released after…
JUNE 28, 2005 Posted: June 30, 2005 Befekadu Moreda, Tomar Zelalem Gebre, Menilik Dawit Fassil, Asqual Tamrat Serbesa, Satenaw HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Police arrested four editors of private Amharic-language newspapers in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, CPJ sources said. The editors were charged with defaming the military, Ethiopian officials confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters.
New York, June 28, 2005—Police arrested four editors of private Amharic-language newspapers today in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, CPJ sources said. The arrests stem from reports in the weeklies about Ethiopian air force pilots who allegedly defected during a training program in Belarus last week, one source said. That source said the Defense Ministry ordered…
New York, June 13, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the arrest and imprisonment of a prominent newspaper distributor in the capital, Addis Ababa. Fikre Gudu, who buys thousands of copies of newspapers to distribute to news vendors, has been in detention since the evening of June 8, when he was arrested at…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the recent harassment and censorship of journalists who reported on Ethiopia’s May 15 parliamentary elections and their aftermath. CPJ sources say that pressure on the media has increased amid violent post-election clashes between government security forces and opposition supporters.