Ethiopia-stop using “anti-terrorism” law to stifle dissent.

Michael Aboye

In 2009 a controversial anti-terrorism law (Proclamation No. 652/2009) was established in Ethiopia. The law criminalises any contact or reporting that encourages individuals or groups which the government labelled ‘terrorists.’  Since then, opposition members and journalists are convicted by the broad and ambiguous anti-terrorism law.

That proclamation has been thoroughly condemned and criticized by all of the major international human rights organization. For instance, Human Rights Watch criticized that “law” for providing “an extremely broad and ambiguous definition of terrorism that could be used to criminalize non-violent political dissent and various other activities that should not be deemed as terrorism.” Even the U.S. State Department expressed its disapproval of the “extremely harsh and politicized use of Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law” in persecuting political opponents.

Since Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law was adopted in 2009, the independent media have been decimated by politically motivated prosecutions under the law. The government has systematically thwarted attempts by journalists to establish new publications. Blogs and Internet pages critical of the government are regularly blocked, and in 2012 printing houses came under threat for printing publications that criticized the authorities.

Since the laws’ passing, what has precipitated is exactly what rights groups predicted. In less than four years, over 200 people have been arrested under the anti-terrorism law and more than 35 journalists and opposition leaders had been convicted of terrorism.

One of the journalists sentenced under the law who remain in prison is Eskinder Nega , a veteran Ethiopian journalist. He had been detained numerous times, and was sentenced in July 2012 to 18 years in prison for conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, as well as participation in a terrorist organization. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a panel of independent experts, concluded in November 2013, that Eskinder’s imprisonment was arbitrary and “a result of his peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression.”

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly raised concerns about the anti-terrorism law’s overly broad definition of “terrorist acts.” The law’s provisions on support for terrorism contain a vague prohibition on “moral support” under which only journalists have been convicted.

The latest victims of this repressive policy regime seem to be six young professionals that are part of a group of bloggers called Zone 9 and three journalists. A group of Ethiopian bloggers and journalists detained for nearly three months have been charged with “terrorism” for having links to outlawed groups and for planning attacks.

On May 2, this year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem  Pillay, expressed deep concern at the arrest of these bloggers and journalists. The High Commissioner called for a reform of the country’s anti-terrorism legislation to come into line with international human rights law and stated that

“The fight against terrorism in Ethiopia cannot be used as an excuse to intimidate and silence journalists, bloggers, activists and members of civil society organizations.”|

The United States said it is deeply concerned by the Ethiopian Federal High Court’s decision to press charges against six bloggers and three independent journalists under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.

Human rights watch reportedly said the Ethiopian government should immediately drop politically motivated charges brought against 10 bloggers and journalists on July 17, 2014, under the country’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law.

As many human rights groups have said, Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism “law” is merely a convenient mechanism for “politically motivated trials and convictions of opposition figures, activists, journalists, and bloggers, as well as increased restrictions on print media.”  It is State terrorism through the use of “anti-terrorism law” and violation of the rule of international law. The “war on terrorism” should not be a war on international law where anti-terrorism efforts become a convenient justification for thuggery.

The Ethiopian regime should cease using its overly broad anti-terrorism law against journalists and peaceful political activists. International actors should pay close attention to the recent, intensified crackdown of freedom of expression. Expressing critical views is not a terrorist act.  The “Terrorism” charges against bloggers and journalists are politically motivated. The fight against terrorism in Ethiopia cannot be used as an excuse to intimidate, silence and detain journalists and activists. Using “anti-terror” law to stifle peaceful dissent has to stop.

Journalism is not a crime!