“When you decide to
become a journalist in Ethiopia, you know your life is going to be messy,”
Birhanu told recently to Sahan journal reporter in a Nairobi restaurant. “You
will always be obsessed with covering politics and human rights. And because of
that, you know that one day you will have to go out of the country, or even
worse, go to jail.”
Mastewal Birhanu is one of dozens of Ethiopian journalists
living in exile in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, who fled their country for fear
of persecution and imprisonment.
His story, and those of his colleagues, underlies the state
of media in Ethiopia, which is marked with a narrowing space for expression and
the evisceration of the independent press.
“Journalism has become
synonymous with terrorism in Ethiopia,” says Fasil, a former reporter with
Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency and now in an exile in Nairobi. “If you call back home, you are putting your
loved ones in more danger. It is a very sad situation.”
From April 25 to 26, 2014, nine Ethiopian bloggers and
journalists were arrested. As we celebrated World Press Freedom Day on Saturday
(may 3), they were being detained in Addis Ababa’s notorious central
investigation office. The group is accused of “working with foreign human
rights activists” and “using social media to destabilize the country”. If
prosecuted under Ethiopia’s controversial Anti-Terrorism Law, they could face
the death penalty.
The arrests are part of a disturbing trend in Ethiopia,
which has frequently ranked as one of the most repressive places for press
freedom in recent years. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in
the past decade, more journalists have fled Ethiopia than any other country in
the world. For those who remain in Ethiopia the possibility of being charged
with terrorism for criticizing the government is a real risk.
The threat embodied in Ethiopia’s bloggers, journalists and
free thinkers is that they are introducing a radical new idea—the idea of a
freer, more democratic country. They represent a generation of young Africans
that is daring to demand more from governments whose source of legitimacy is
based in the unfortunate poverty of their countries’ populations. This idea,
made even more infectious by the imprisonment of the bloggers and journalists,
continues to spread in their absence.
Recently members of the International Press Institute,
meeting at their 63rd Annual General Assembly during the IPI World Congress on
April 14, 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa, adopted by unanimous vote a
resolution calling on the Ethiopian government to end its practice of arresting
journalists under anti-terrorism laws and to review its anti-terror statutes to
protect freedom of the press.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also said he had raised
concerns about Ethiopia's detention of six bloggers and three journalists
during a meeting with the country's prime minister on his recent visit.
Despite the pressure of international human rights
organizations, the Ethiopian government has continued its crackdown on
journalists and bloggers. In Ethiopia, expressing your views can get you a
first class ticket to prison.
“Sometimes I regret
being a journalist. Sometimes I ask, ‘What if I was a lawyer or a doctor?’”
Fasil says. “But other times I tell myself that this is the price we have to
pay for us to grow in this profession. We have to stand our ground.”
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