Nairobi — Ethiopian authorities should halt
their harassment of journalists covering the country's Muslim community
and their intimidation of citizens who have tried to speak to reporters
about sensitive religious, ethnic, and political issues, the Committee
to Protect Journalists said today.
Police in the capital, Addis Ababa, briefly detained Marthe Van Der
Wolf, a reporter with the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of
America as she was covering a protest by members of Ethiopia's Muslim
community at the Anwar Mosque, local journalists said. The protesters
were demonstrating against alleged government interference in Islamic
Council elections scheduled for Sunday, according to VOA and local
journalists.
Wolf was taken to a police station and told to erase her recorded
interviews, and then released without charge, local journalists said.
This week, security officers have also harassed Ethiopian citizens
who were interviewed by VOA's Amharic-language service, according to the
station. Police arrested two individuals who spoke to VOA on Thursday
about a land dispute outside the capital, VOA reported. On Monday,
police harassed individuals who spoke to the station about a dispute
over resources between ethnic communities, the outlet said.
"We urge the government's leadership to set a new tone of tolerance
and halt the bullying tactics of the past," said CPJ East Africa
Consultant Tom Rhodes. "Citizens should be allowed to voice their
opinions to journalists without fearing arrest or intimidation, and
reporters should be allowed to cover even those events the government
dislikes."
For much of the year, Ethiopian authorities have cracked down on
journalists and news outlets reporting on the unprecedented protests by
members of the Muslim community, according to CPJ research. In May,
police detained former VOA correspondent Peter Heinlein overnight on
accusations of "illegal reporting" for covering a similar protest, VOA
reported.
VOA released a statement today that condemned the harassment and
obstruction and said the incident was "designed to prevent journalists
from doing their job."
Three Muslim-oriented papers have not been published in the country
since July after police raided the outlets and searched the homes of
their editors. Yusuf Getachew, editor of Ye Muslimoch Guday, has been
imprisoned on charges of treason and incitement to violence for
reporting on the grievances of the Muslim community, and at least two
journalists, Senior Editor Akemel Negash and copy editor Isaac Eshetu,
have fled into hiding, according to CPJ research.
With six journalists in jail, Ethiopia is the second leading jailer
of journalists in Africa, second only to its neighbor, Eritrea,
according to CPJ research.
(Source : Committee to Protect Journalists, New York via allAfrica.com)
