An Ethiopian court has jailed three opposition politicians for life
and a journalist for 18 years. They were among 20 out of 24 defendants convicted
of "terrorism" in June. The sentences of the other four are pending.
Journalist
Eskinder Nega was jailed for 18 years, while opposition member Andualem Arage
was given life. Both were in court to hear their sentences. Of the 22 others, 16
were convicted in absentia, having fled into exile.
They
were accused of links to the US-based group Ginbot 7, considered a terrorist
group under Ethiopian law, and pronounced guilty of terrorism charges at the end
of June.
Andualem
Arage was given a life sentence, purportedly because of the "heaviness of the
case." He was also found guilty of serving as a "leader or decision maker of a
terrorist organisation."
Ethiopia
passed an anti-terror law in 2009 which gives the security apparatus carte
blanche in suppressing dissent.
Eskinder
Nega was detained after the rigged elections in 2005, but continued to post
material critical of the government on the internet.
According
to Laetitia Bader, who is following the case from Nairobi for Human Rights
Watch, the Ethiopian government is "using every imaginable means to muzzle
independent media and curb freedom of expression." According to her, it is
therefore no coincidence that of the 24 charged under the anti-terror law, 11
are journalists. "This legislation is evidently one of the most effective
instruments for nipping independent reporting and criticism in the bud," she
says.
The two faces of
Ethiopia
Ethiopia,
seen by the West as a strategic partner, is presenting two very different faces
to the outside world and never before has the contrast between the two been so
vivid. There is Ethiopia the "African tiger" with two digit economic growth. In
the capital Addis Ababa, new office tower blocks and hotels spring up at almost
weekly intervals. And at the recent Rio+20 summit, Ethiopian Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi was able to present himself as one of Africa's most accomplished
and articulate speakers.
Meles
Zenawi likes to champion Africa abroad, but runs a repressive regime at
home.
The
other Ethiopia is a land in which there is political repression, ethnic
division, skyrocketing inflation, and rampant youth unemployment. This is
fertile ground for a North African-style revolution. Activists mounted a
campaign called "Beka" (Amharic for "enough") in 2011. However, it was limited
to the internet and Facebook; the all-powerful security apparatus would have
prevented any other expressions of dissent.
Following
the controversial reform of media legislation in 2008, yet another amendment is
causing consternation. It is the Telecom Fraud Law which has just been passed.
It places restrictions on the use of internet telephony or Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP). This technology is used by services such as Skype. In the past,
Ethiopia's telecoms monopolist Ethio Telekom has simply switched off the
country's text messaging service whenever it felt the need. In 2005, students
had used the service to organise protests.
Activists
fear a similar crackdown on VoIP. Foreign media reportsseem to confirm their
suspicions. They alledge that the Telecom Fraud Law was instigated by Ethiopia's
intelligence service, the Information Network Security Agency (INSA).
The latest in a
series of repressive laws
Hailu
Araya from the opposition party UDJ (Unity for Democracy and Justice Party) sees
the Telecom Fraud Law as just the latest in a series of such pieces of
legislation. "The NGO Law was designed to muzzle civil society, the same is true
of the anti-terror and media laws," he explains. According to Araya, the latest
bill is designed to prevent the free flow of information. "We are talking here
about a system that controls everything," he told DW in a recent interview.
Donor
nations, which paid Ethiopia $26 billion (21 billion euros) in development aid
between 1991 and 2009, have given vent to only faint-hearted criticism. In its
human rights report for 2011, the European Union does express reservations about
the media legislation in Ethiopia. But the EU representative in Addis Ababa,
Xavier Marchal promptly sounds the retreat in an interview with DW declaiming
"We mustn't forget that the Ethiopia is a sovereign state."
Donor
countries appear unwilling to take Ethiopia to task over its human rights
record
But
when the television cameras are switched off and the microphones packed away,
Ethiopia's partner nations freely admit that they have run out of sanctions to
impose following the freezing of direct budgetary aid after the chaotic
elections of 2005.
A
tragic accident illustrates how desperate life has become for many Ethiopians.
The corpses of 40 Ethiopian refugees were found in a lorry in Tanzania at the
end of June. They had suffocated to death while on their way to South Africa via
Kenya and Malawi. They preferred to risk a dangerous and costly escape attempt
organised by people smugglers, whom they knew to be quite without scruples,
rather than stay in their own
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