Ethiopia
Three Ethiopian journalists convicted of terrorismPosted Jan 25 2012
Three Ethiopian journalists were among five convicted of “conspiracy to commit terrorist acts” in the Ethiopian Federal High Court in Addis Abba on Friday, Jan. 19, 2012 according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Woubshet Taye former Deputy Editor of the now defunct Awramba Times, Reeyot Alemu columnist for Feteh, and Washington, D.C.-based Elias Kifle, editor-in-chief of the online Ethiopian Review, who was tried in absentia, all face sentencing of up to 15 years to life imprisonment or death, according to Human Rights Watch.
Leslie Lefkow, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch referred to the verdict as a political witch-hunt. “The verdict against these five people confirms that Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law is being used to crush independent reporting and peaceful political dissent,” Lefkow said in the Human Rights Watch article.
Sentencing for the five is scheduled for Jan. 26.