allAfrica.com: Ethiopia: 2007 Press Freedom Summary (Page 1 of 2)

Involved militarily in the conflict engulfing Somalia, engaged in a tense stalemate with arch foe Eritrea, assailed by allegations of human rights abuses in the eastern region of Ogaden, Ethiopia eased media repression slightly and released many journalists from prison.

Yet the chilling effect of a brutal 2005 media crackdown that led to 15 arrests and numerous newspaper closings hung over Ethiopia's beleaguered private press in 2007. And continued government harassment drove many journalists out of the country.

On April 9, Ethiopia's High Court acquitted and set free eight editors and publishers of now-defunct Amharic-language newspapers charged with antistate crimes such as "outrages against the constitution." The court also tossed out "attempted genocide" charges filed against the journalists, although the government later sought to reinstate them. The acquitted journalists included award-winning publisher Serkalem Fassil, who gave birth to a child in prison.

The other journalists picked up in the 2005 crackdown were set free in July and August after signing incriminating statements, pleading guilty to antistate charges, and then receiving presidential pardons. Many observers saw the statements as being signed under pressure in order to receive a pardon, although government spokesman Zemedkun Tekle said the speculation was "absolutely false and baseless." A 2006 CPJ report, "Poison, Politics, and the Press," had concluded that the government's charges in the 2005 crackdown were baseless.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi dismissed suggestions that the government issued the pardons in response to pressure from the United States, according to the private business weekly Addis Fortune. The weekly quoted Zenawi as saying the prisoners would be freed as long as they respected Ethiopia's rule of law, its constitution, and "constitutionally mandated institutions." He declared that the pardons showed the government had "no sense of revenge."

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, CPJ named Ethiopia the world's worst backslider on press freedom over the previous five years. In addition to the 15 journalists arrested in 2005, the country has locked up numerous editors and writers for months at a time on defamation and other charges that sometimes date back several years. The list of problems goes on: At least eight newspapers were forcibly closed during the 2005 crackdown and others have since shut down; dozens of journalists have taken flight from the country to avoid prison; a critical foreign reporter was expelled in 2006; and Web sites were blocked on a recurring basis. In response, spokesman Tekle told the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America that "press freedom in Ethiopia is getting stronger and stronger," and that CPJ's report did not reflect the "reality."

For journalists, "reality" meant ongoing government intimidation. In January, authorities filed a contempt-of-court charge against Addis Fortune for its coverage of the 12-year trial of leaders of the Derg regime of ousted dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. The government cited copy editor Olurotimi Akanbi in connection with a headline and an editorial focusing on delays in the case. The charge was later dropped, but the paper was issued a warning and ordered to publish an apology. In June, authorities summoned 17 journalists and staffers of the private English-Amharic weekly African Best Business Index, interrogating them in a police station for 11 hours about their backgrounds and knowledge of the paper. They were subsequently fingerprinted and released without charge.

Harassment and imprisonment have led many of Ethiopia's top journalists to go into exile. When CPJ issued a worldwide report in June, "Journalists in Exile," at least 34 Ethiopian journalists had left the country since 2001—a tally second only to Zimbabwe worldwide. (Their ranks continue to grow: Since CPJ issued its report, another three journalists fled.) Among those who took flight were editors such as Befekadu Moreda, a founder of the respected newsweekly Tomar, whose 2007 resettlement in the United States was documented in the October CPJ special report, "Flight from Ethiopia."

Several exiled journalists—including editor Abiy Gizaw of Netsanet and publisher Elias Kifle of the influential U.S.-based diaspora Web site Ethiopian Review—have been tried and convicted of crimes in absentia. Kifle, who founded Ethiopian Review as a college student, told CPJ he did not recognize the Ethiopian courts or consider legitimate the treason charge lodged against him in late 2005.

Popular Web sites like Ethiopian Review and others critical of the government were frequently inaccessible during 2007, according to several CPJ sources. In May, Internet monitor OpenNet Initiative cited Ethiopia for preventing its citizens from viewing independent Web sites and blogs discussing political reform and human rights. OpenNet pointed to "overwhelming evidence" based on diagnostic tests run by volunteers it had enlisted in Ethiopia, and said that more extensive censorship could ensue as Internet access expands across the country. In late 2006, security agents directed Internet cafés in Addis Ababa to register all users, but the initiative was abandoned shortly afterward without explanation, according to local journalists.

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