30 Mar 10 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The Ethiopian government has been accused of blocking the website of US broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) as a row over press intimidation continues to escalate in the Horn of Africa. Residents of the capital Addis Ababa have been unable to access the site since early on Sunday, reports Reuters. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s administration has yet to comment on the development. Earlier this month, the government accused the VOA radio service of broadcasting propaganda and revealed that it was testing its ability to jam transmissions. Meles even compared the station to Radio Mille Collines, whose broadcasts were blamed for sparking the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
08 Mar 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Voice of America’s (VOA) Amharic-language radio broadcasts have been blocked in Ethiopia. The Washington-based broadcaster has been informed by monitors that its news service in the East African state has been electronically-jammed, although it has not yet been able to identify the source. Ethiopia is preparing for a crucial parliament vote on 23 May and officials have described VOA as the “voice of the opposition”. The Ethiopian Communications Office has, however, denied any involvement.
03 Feb 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Veteran Ethiopian journalist Ezedin Mohamed, editor of Islamic paper Al Quds, was sentenced to one year in jail on the 30 January. According to CPJ, the sentence relates to Mohamed’s response to a 2008 Guardian interview with Meles Zenawi; Mohamad criticised the Prime Minister’s characterisation of the country as Orthodox Christian. Ezedin Mohamed and Al-Quds Publisher Maria Kadim were previously jailed for two weeks in 2008, alongside Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, editor of another Islamic weekly Selafiyya for reporting on a government proposal to restrict the use of headscarves for Muslim girls in public schools.
Ethiopia’s record on press freedom remains poor, Ali and Asrat Wedajo, editor of the country’s largest Oromo language paper Seife Nebelbal before it was shut down in 2005, were subsequently sentenced to one year in prison in September 2009 for ‘coverage of sensitive topics’ (CPJ). . Two Eritrean journalists, Saleh Idris Gama and Tesfalidet Kidane Tesfazghi, have also been detained without charge since they were captured in Somalia ‘on suspicion of terrorism’; the Ethiopian government has repeatedly declined to provide any information about the location, health or legal status of the two men.
21 Aug 09 | Index Index, minipost
Ethiopia’s popular singer, Teddy Afro, was freed from prison last Thursday after serving 18 months of a two-year sentence because of good behaviour. Teddy, whose real name is Tewodros Kassahun, was found guilty of the killing of a homeless man in a hit-and-run incident in 2007 but denied driving the car. Opposition parties and supporters say Teddy had been jailed for his criticism to the government in some of his songs and hundreds protested outside the court during his trial. Read more here
