(Nairobi) – The Ethiopian government’s
systematic repression of independent media has created a bleak landscape
for free expression ahead of the May 2015 general elections, Human
Rights Watch said in a report released today. In the past year, six
privately owned publications closed after government harassment; at
least 22 journalists, bloggers, and publishers were criminally charged,
and more than 30 journalists fled the country in fear of being arrested
under repressive laws.
The 76-page report, “‘
Journalism is Not a Crime’: Violations of Media Freedom in Ethiopia,”
details how the Ethiopian government has curtailed independent
reporting since 2010. Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 70
current and exiled journalists between May 2013 and December 2014, and
found patterns of government abuses against journalists that resulted in
19 being imprisoned for exercising their right to free expression, and
that have forced at least 60 others into exile since 2010.
“
Ethiopia’s government
has systematically assaulted the country’s independent voices, treating
the media as a threat rather than a valued source of information and
analysis,” said
Leslie Lefkow,
deputy Africa director. “Ethiopia’s media should be playing a crucial
role in the May elections, but instead many journalists fear that their
next article could get them thrown in jail.”
Most of Ethiopia’s print, television, and radio outlets are
state-controlled, and the few private print media often self-censor
their coverage of politically sensitive issues for fear of being shut
down.
The six independent print publications that closed in 2014 did so after a
lengthy campaign of intimidation that included documentaries on
state-run television that alleged the publications were linked to
terrorist groups. The intimidation also included harassment and threats
against staff, pressure on printers and distributors, regulatory delays,
and eventually criminal charges against the editors. Dozens of staff
members went into exile. Three of the owners were convicted under the
criminal code and sentenced in absentia to more than three years in
prison. The evidence the prosecution presented against them consisted of
articles that criticized government policies.
While the plight of a few high-profile Ethiopian journalists has become
widely known, dozens more in Addis Ababa and in rural regions have
suffered systematic abuses at the hands of security officials.
The threats against journalists often take a similar course. Journalists
who publish a critical article might receive threatening telephone
calls, text messages, and visits from security officials and ruling
party cadres. Some said they received hundreds of these threats. If this
does not silence them or intimidate them into self-censorship, then the
threats intensify and arrests often follow. The courts have shown
little or no independence in criminal cases against journalists who have
been convicted after unfair trials and sentenced to lengthy prison
terms, often on terrorism-related charges.
“Muzzling independent voices through trumped-up criminal charges and
harassment is making Ethiopia one of the world’s biggest jailers of
journalists,” Lefkow said. “The government should immediately release
those wrongly imprisoned and reform laws to protect media freedom.”
Most radio and television stations in Ethiopia are
government-affiliated, rarely stray from the government position, and
tend to promote government policies and tout development successes.
Control of radio is crucial politically given that more than 80 percent
of Ethiopia’s population lives in rural areas, where the radio is still
the main medium for news and information. The few private radio stations
that cover political events are subjected to editing and approval
requirements by local government officials. Broadcasters who deviate
from approved content have been harassed, detained, and in many cases
forced into exile.
The government has also frequently jammed broadcasts and blocked the
websites of foreign and diaspora-based radio and television stations.
Staff working for broadcasters face repeated threats and harassment, as
well as intimidation of their sources or people interviewed on
international media outlets. Even people watching or listening to these
services have been arrested.
The government has also used a variety of more subtle but effective
administrative and regulatory restrictions such as hampering efforts to
form journalist associations, delaying permits and renewals of private
publications, putting pressure on the few printing presses and
distributors, and linking employment in state media to ruling party
membership.
Social media are also heavily restricted, and many blog sites and websites run by Ethiopians in the diaspora are
blocked inside Ethiopia.
In April, the authorities arrested six people from Zone 9, a blogging
collective that provides commentary on social, political, and other
events of interest to young Ethiopians, and charged them under the
country’s counterterrorism law and criminal code. Their trial, along
with other media figures, has been fraught with various due process
concerns. On January 14, 2015, it was adjourned for the 16th time and
they have now been jailed for over 260 days. The arrest and prosecution
of the
Zone 9 bloggers
has had a wider chilling effect on freedom of expression in Ethiopia,
especially among critically minded bloggers and online activists.
The increased media repression will clearly affect the media landscape for the May elections,.
“The government still has time to make significant reforms that would
improve media freedoms before the May elections,” Lefkow said. “Amending
oppressive laws and freeing jailed journalists do not require
significant time or resources, but only the political will for reform.”
