Human Rights Watch says Ethiopian government should drop charges against bloggers

July 19, 2014

Human Rights Watch
The Ethiopian government should immediately drop politically motivated charges brought against 10 bloggers

and journalists on July 17, 2014, under the country’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Ethiopian authorities arrested six of the bloggers and three journalists on April 25 and 26. They have been detained in Maekelawi, the Federal Police Crime Investigation Sector in Addis Ababa. The court charged the nine with having links to banned opposition groups and trying to violently overthrow the government, local media reported. A tenth blogger, who was not in Ethiopia at the time of the arrests, was charged in absentia.
“Ethiopia’s courts are making a mockery of their own judicial system,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Hiding behind an abusive anti-terrorism law to prosecute bloggers and journalists doing their job is an affront to the constitution and international protection for free expression.”
The charges are part of an intensified crackdown in Ethiopia in recent months against perceived political opponents, Human Rights Watch said.
The six bloggers in custody are Atnaf Berahane, Befekadu Hailu, Abel Wabela, Mahlet Fantahun, Natnael Feleke, and Zelalem Kibret. Soliana Shimeles was charged in absentia. The three journalists are Tesfalem Waldyes, Edom Kassaye, and Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, an editor at weekly magazine Addis Guday.
The bloggers are part of a blogging collective known as Zone 9, which provides commentary on current events in Ethiopia. Zone 9 is the section of Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa where many political prisoners are held. The Zone 9 group had stopped blogging in February after security officials harassed the group and questioned them about their work and alleged links to political opposition parties and human rights organizations.

Human Rights Watch says Ethiopian government should drop charges against bloggers

July 19, 2014

The Ethiopian government should immediately drop politically motivated charges brought against 10 bloggers and journalists on July 17, 2014, under the country’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch
The Ethiopian authorities arrested six of the bloggers and three journalists on April 25 and 26. They have been detained in Maekelawi, the Federal Police Crime Investigation Sector in Addis Ababa. The court charged the nine with having links to banned opposition groups and trying to violently overthrow the government, local media reported. A tenth blogger, who was not in Ethiopia at the time of the arrests, was charged in absentia.
“Ethiopia’s courts are making a mockery of their own judicial system,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Hiding behind an abusive anti-terrorism law to prosecute bloggers and journalists doing their job is an affront to the constitution and international protection for free expression.”
The charges are part of an intensified crackdown in Ethiopia in recent months against perceived political opponents, Human Rights Watch said.
The six bloggers in custody are Atnaf Berahane, Befekadu Hailu, Abel Wabela, Mahlet Fantahun, Natnael Feleke, and Zelalem Kibret. Soliana Shimeles was charged in absentia. The three journalists are Tesfalem Waldyes, Edom Kassaye, and Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, an editor at weekly magazine Addis Guday.
The bloggers are part of a blogging collective known as Zone 9, which provides commentary on current events in Ethiopia. Zone 9 is the section of Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa where many political prisoners are held. The Zone 9 group had stopped blogging in February after security officials harassed the group and questioned them about their work and alleged links to political opposition parties and human rights organizations.
Zone 9 announced on Facebook on April 23 that they would resume blogging, and on April 25 and 26 the six bloggers were arrested. They were detained for over 80 days without charge, and remain in custody. Their lawyer, Ameha Mekonnen, has had only sporadic access to them, and family members were not allowed to meet with them until July 9. The lawyer plans to bring a civil suit about irregularities in the legal process, media reports said.
The bloggers and journalists are accused of connections to Ginbot 7 and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), two of five organizations designated as terrorist organizations in 2011 by the House of Federation, the Ethiopian parliament. Human Rights Watch has not yet obtained the charge sheets, but credible media reports say that the bloggers and journalists are alleged to have taken directions from Ginbot 7 and OLF, planning and organizing terrorist acts, and agreeing to overthrow the government through force.
Judge Tareke Alemayehu was reported in the media saying that the group “took training in how to make explosives and planned to train others,” accusing them of plotting “to destabilize the nation” and using blogging as a cover for “clandestine” activities.
Human Rights Watch and other organizations have repeatedly raised concerns about Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law’s overly broad definition of “terrorist acts” and provisions on support for terrorism. Its vague prohibition of “moral support” for terrorism has been used to convict a number of journalists. Since 2011, at least 11 journalists, and possibly many more, have been convicted for their journalistic activities, even though the Ethiopian constitution and international law protect media freedom.
Three of the Zone 9 bloggers were outside of Ethiopia when their colleagues were arrested. According to media reports, one of these, Soliana Shimeles, was charged in absentia with coordinating foreign relations for the group and coordinating digital security training with “Security in-a-box”, a publicly available training tool used by advocates and human rights defenders. Human Rights Watch has documented how the Ethiopian government monitors email and telephone communications, often using information unlawfully collected, without a warrant, during interrogations.
“The fact that bloggers used digital security isn’t terrorism but common sense, especially in a repressive environment like Ethiopia,” Lefkow said. “The government should drop these charges and immediately release these nine journalists and bloggers, as well as others who have been wrongfully prosecuted under the anti-terrorism law.”
Others caught up in the government’s recent crackdown are four opposition leaders affiliated with political parties – Yeshewas Asefa of the Blue Party, Abraha Desta of the Arena Tigray party, and Daniel Shibeshi and Habtamu Ayalew of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party. They were arrested on July 8, 2014, accused of providing support to terrorist groups, media reports said. They are scheduled to appear in court on August 14.
On June 23 or 24, Andargachew Tsige, a British citizen and secretary-general of Ginbot 7, was deported to Ethiopia from Yemen while in transit, in violation of international law prohibitions against sending someone to a country where they are likely to face torture or other mistreatment. He had twice been sentenced to death in absentia for his involvement with Ginbot 7. His whereabouts in Ethiopia are unknown. He has been detained for more than three weeks without access to family members, legal counsel, or UK consular officials, in violation of Ethiopian and international law.

አገራዊ ጥሪ ለመከላከያና የፓሊስ ሠራዊት አባላት

ግንቦት 7፡ የፍትህ፣ የነፃነትና የዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ የኢትዮጵያ የመከላከያና የፓሊስ ሠራዊት አባላትን ከአለቆቻቸው ለይቶ ይመለከታል።

የመከላከያና የፓሊስ ሠራዊት ከፍተኛ ሹማምንት ከህወሓት የተቀዱ፣ ለህወሓት ሥልጣን የቆሙ፣ ዘረኞች፣ ፋሽስቶችና ሙሰኖች መሆናቸው በገሃድ የሚታወቅና በተደጋጋሚ ጥናቶችም የተረጋገጠ ጉዳይ ነው። በዘመነ ወያኔ የሠራዊት አዛዥነት ሹመት መሥፈርቶች ዘር፣ የፓለቲካ አመለካከትና ለህወሓት ያላቸው ታማኝነት ነው። በዚህም ምክንያት ሁሉም ቁልፍ የአዛዥነት ቦታዎች የተያዙት ሙሉ በሙሉ የህወሓት አባላት በሆኑ የትግራይ ተወላጆች ነው። እነዚህ የጦርና የፓሊስ ሹማምንት ኢትዮጵያን ወረው እንደያዙት አገር ሲዘርፉ፣ ሕዝቧንም ሲገሉና ሲገርፉ እንሆ 23 ዓመታት አልፈዋል። በእነዚህ 23 ዓመታት ትግራይን ጨምሮ በደል ያልደረሰበት የኢትዮጵያ ግዛት እና የኅብረተሰብ ክፍል የለም። ሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊ በእነዚህ ፋሽስቶች ተረግጧል፣ ተዋርዷል፣ ተግዟል። የንቅናቄዓችን ዋና ፀሐፊ አቶ አንዳርጋቸው ጽጌን ጨምሮ በርካታ ኢትዮጵያዊያን የነፃነት አርበኞች በእነዚህ እኩይ የሠራዊቱና የፓሊስ አዛዦች ሰቆቃ እየተፈፀመባቸው ነው። የወያኔ የጦርና የፓሊስ አዛዦች እና ሰላዮች አገራችን እያደሙ፤ ሕዝባችንን እያስለቀሱ ነው። በወያኔ ፋሽስት የጦርና የፓሊስ አዛዦች እና ሰላዮች ጥምረት ሰቆቃ የሚፈፀምበት የኅብረተሰብ ክፍል በየጊዜው እየጨመረ ይገኛል። የወያኔ ማሰቃያዎችን የሞሉት የፓለቲካና የሀይማኖት መሪዎች፣ ጋዜጠኞችና ብሎገሮች መሆናቸው ለዚህ አንድ ማሳያ ነው።

የሠራዊቱ የበታች ሹማምንትና ተራ አባላት ጥንቅር ግን ከአዛዦቹ ፈጽም የተለየ ነው። የመከላከያና የፓሊስ ሠራዊት አባላት ከመላው የኢትዮጵያ ግዛቶች የተውጣጡ፤ እንደሌላው የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ሁሉ በነፃነት እጦት፣ በመብቶች መገፈፍ እና በኑሮ ውድነት የሚሰቃዩ ዜጎች ናቸው። የኢትዮጵያ ወታደር በወያኔ አዛዦቹ እየታዘዘ ወገኑን የሚበድል ቢሆንም ራሱ ከመበደል ግን አይድንም። የኢትዮጵያ ወታደር በወያኔ አዛዡ ታዞ ሌላኛውን ወገኑን ቢያስርም ሹሙ ፊቱን ባዞረበት ጊዜ እራሱ ደግሞ ከመታሰር አይድንም። የኢትዮጵያ ወታደር ወያኔ አዞት ምስኪኖችን ይደበድባል፤ ራሱ ደግሞ በወያኔ ይደበደባል። የኢትዮጵያ ፓሊስ በወያኔ ትዕዛዝ ንጹሀን ዜጎችን ያስራል፣ ያሰቃያል፤ እራሱ ደግሞ በወያኔ ይታሰራል፣ ይሰቃያል። ይህ ምን የሚሉት ባርነት ነው？ የወያኔ ሹማምንቶች በሚመሩት የመከላከያና የፓሊስ ሠራዊት ውስጥ ያሉ ወገኖቻችን በህወሓት የሚደርስባቸው በደል ሌላው ኢትዮጵያዊ ከሚደርስበት ይብስ እንደሆን እንጂ የሚያንስ አይደለም።

ግፍ መብቃት አለበት። በጥቂት የህወሓት ሹመኖች ትዕዛዝ በኢትዮጵያዊው ወታደር ላይ የሚደርሰው ውርደት ማብቃት አለበት። ሠራዊቱ የኢትዮጵያ እንጂ የህወሓት ሠራዊት አይደለም፤ ሊሆንም አይገባውም። ሠራዊቱ ለራሱ ነፃነት ብቻ ሳይሆን ለአገርና ለሕዝብ ደህንነት ዘብ የመቆም ኃላፊነት አለበት። የኢትዮጵያ ሠራዊት የህወሓት የባንዳ ሠራዊት ሆኖ ሕዝብን በማሰቃየትና ሀገርን በመበደል ተግባር ላይ ተሠማርቶ ማየት አንሻም። ይህንን ለራሱ ክብር ያለው፤ አገሩንና ሕዝቡን የሚወድ የሠራዊቱ አባልም የሚፈቅደው ጉዳይ አይደለም።

ስለሆነም ግንቦት 7: የፍትህ፣ የነፃነትና የዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ የሚከተለው ሀገራዊ ጥሪ ለመላው የመከላከያና የፓሊስ ሠራዊት አባላት ያቀርባል።

ውድ የኢትዮጵያ የመከላከያ ወይም የፓሊስ ሠራዊት አባል！ በጥቂት የህወሓት ፋሽስቶች መዳፍ ውስጥ ሆነህ የገዛ ራስህን፣ የቤተሰቦችህን፣ የወገንህን እና የአገርህን ስቃይ ማራዘምህን አቁም። አንተ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ አለኝታ እንጂ የጥቂት ጎጠኞች ሎሌ ልትሆን አይገባም። አንተ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ መከታ እንጂ የእያንዳንዱ ቤተሰብ ስጋት መሆን የለብህም። አንተ የመጪው ትውልድ አርዐያ እንጂ ሕፃናትንና ወጣቶችን ማስፈራሪያ መሆን የለብህም።

የኢትዮጵያ ወታደር ሆይ！ ራስህን ተመልከት！ ራስህን ታዘብ！ ዛሬ ያለህበት ሁኔታ አሳፋሪ ነው። አዛዦችህ አገርን፣ ትውልድንና ታሪክን ለማጥፋት የተነሱ ናቸው። አንተን ተጠቅመው ነው ይህንን ዓላማቸውን የሚያስፈጽሙት። ይህ ላንተ ብቻ ሳይሆን ለልጅ ልጆችህ ውርደት ነው። ከወያኔ ባርነት ራስህን ነፃ አውጣና የነፃነት ታጋዮችን ተቀላቀል። ወያኔ መጥፋቱ አይቀርም። ወያኔ የቀድሞውን ጦር እንደበተነው አንተን ለመበተን የሚሻ የለም። አንተ ዛሬ ከወገን ጋር ወገንተኛነትህን ካሳየህ ከአገዛዙ ጋር እጠፋለሁ ብለህ አትስጋ። ለዚህም ነው አንተ ዛሬ በግልም ሆነ በቡድን የምትወስደው እርምጃ የአገራችንን ብቻ ሳይሆን የሠራዊቱን እጣ ፈንታ ይወስናል ብለን ወገናዊ ጥሪ የምናቀርብልህ።

ውድ የኢትዮጵያ የመከላከያና የፓሊስ ሠራዊት አባላት ወገናችን！ከበዳዮች ጎን ሳይሆን ከተበዳዮች ጎን ቁም። ከገራፊዎችና ገዳዮች ጎን ሳይሆን ከነፃነት ታጋዮች ጎን ሁን። ዛሬውኑ ወስን። አሁን የነፃነት ታጋዮችን መቀላቀል ቀላል ሆኗል። ያሉበትን ታውቃለህ፤ ተቀላቀል። አልያም የጠመንጃህን አፈሙዝ በፋሽስት አለቆችህ ላይ አዙር። ይህንን እርምጃ በመውሰድ ከታሪክ ተወቃሽነት እራስህን በመታደግ ለአገርህና ለወገንህ አለኝታህን አረጋግጥ።

ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ !!!

Why the Arrest of Andargachew Embarrassment for the West

Andargachew Tsige (Photo courtesy of Wondimu Mekonnen)

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Ethiopia? 

by Martin PlautForeign Policy

Why the arrest of one of Addis Ababa’s most vocal critics is a huge embarrassment for the West.

Tall metal gates guard a courtyard just off a busy street north of London’s financial district. The area, once down and out, is today much sought after, but scattered between the newly refurbished warehouses and loft apartments are some blocks of municipal housing populated largely by the city’s African immigrant communities. Inside their yard, small boys are kicking a soccer ball. “Yemi’s my mum,” one of the boys says, leading the way up the building’s aging concrete stairwell to the fourth-floor flat.

A small, slim woman, Yemi smiles easily. On her shelves are portraits of her parents, who left Ethiopia for the United States in 1982 to make a new life for their family. A black-and-white photograph shows her father as a young man in Ethiopian uniform. “He was in the army,” Yemi explains. “But he left for civilian life in 1972 before the Derg took power.”

The Derg, or “Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army,” comprised a group of low-ranking officers who deposed Emperor Haile Selassie. The emperor had ruled Ethiopia for four decades until his failure to respond to a devastating famine in 1974 led to his overthrow and subsequent murder. Mengistu Haile Mariam, an obscure army major, led the coup and went on to rule Ethiopia with an iron fist, engaging in a ruthless campaign of repression that became known as the Red Terror. Executions were rife and tens of thousands of people were imprisoned until the Derg was ousted by the country’s current rulers in 1991.

Yemi was lucky that her father left the military when he did. “Yes,” she agrees, “they killed so many of their own.”

The violent revolutions that have marked Ethiopia’s recent history still reverberate today. The country has enjoyed substantial donor support ever since the devastating 1984-1985 famine and has been an important ally in the fight against Islamic extremism in the Horn of Africa. But the government, while nominally democratic, still tolerates little opposition — a reality Yemi knows all too well.

Yemi, whose full name is Yemsrach Hailemariam, is today caring for her two small boys and their sister on her own. On July 9, her partner, Andargachew Tsige, a leader of Ethiopia’s largest exiled opposition movement, was arrested in an airport transit lounge in Yemen. He had been on his way from the United Arab Emirates to Eritrea when he was picked up by Yemeni security, who then bundled him onto a plane bound for Ethiopia.

Andargachew is the secretary-general of Ginbot 7, an opposition movement outlawed by the Ethiopian authorities. The party was founded after the government refused to accept the 2005 election results. Ginbot 7 has been declared a terrorist organization, and Andargachew was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in absentia in June 2012. Since then, he has toured the world, working with the Ethiopian diaspora in defiance of the government.

Now, he is in its hands.

Amhara National Democratic Movement: A TPLF Surrogate and Watchdog Dominated by Tigryans Marching On Unchecked Destroying Amhara

July 15, 2014
by Abinet Hunegnaw

The political organization that is applying into practice Tigray Peoples Liberation Front’s Manifesto in what is now the Amhara Region, where 92% of the population belongs to the Amhara nationality is ANDM. Other than its name it is run and totally controlled by former fighters of the Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement. That was set up by the TPLF and EPLF (Eritrean People’s Liberation front), with the purpose of confusing the Ethiopian people by spreading the notion of deception that their struggle is to liberate the entire population and the country from the bondage of military dictatorship, hegemony and thereby bring democracy.

After the fall of the Mengistu military government, the TPLF, head or lead party of the EPRDF launched successfully pseudo ethnocentric political organizations to run the Apartheid like States on its behalf. Among them, OPDO, SPDO, and ANDM and others were and are given administrative role in the respective states they are assigned to run without decisive political power. ANDM is born out of the Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement that the EPLF and TPLF created to expand their armed struggle beyond Eritrea and Tigray to the rest of Ethiopia. That is why most of its leadership are from Eritrea and Tigray.

Therefore, the former fighters are all Non Amhara and those at the top of the leadership hierarchy of ANDM belong to the Tigray/Tigrigne ethnic group except Adisu Legese. If any one looks at the list of the Executive Committee of the organization, Berket Simeon, Helawi Yoseph, Kasa T/Birhan, Tadese Kasa and the majority of its Central Committee members are all Tigryans. When the TPLF carried out a nationwide conference that led to the present federal arrangement, the only ethnic group that was not represented is Amhara. This fact is even proved in 1991 without a doubt by the deceased former prime minister during an interview on national television. He said, “. . . no one came to us and openly requested to participate in the conference as a representative of the Amhara.” That is why Amhara lost huge chunks of its ancestral territory to Tigray, Oromia, Afar and Benishangul. In other words, the EPDM that didn’t represent the Amhara people and their interest at the above mentioned conference was and is nothing more than an imposition by the TPLF to fill the vacuum and rule what is left of the immensely shrank Amhara provinces.

After jumping to the horse wagon of ruling Amhara, the immediate task of EPDM was to change its color and appear as an Amhara. That is why it changed its name to ANDM. To the unrepresented and dismayed population of Amhara the imposition was and is felt as if the military dictatorship returned with another tone, but with a more sinister and coercive distractive agenda of dismembering Amhara piece by piece beyond recognition.