Ethiopia: Regime tries to break morale of jailed female journalist By Sudan Tribune

Addis Ababa — The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern about the safety of Reeyot Alemu, a jailed Ethiopian journalist and teacher.

In a protest letter to Birhan Hailu, Ethiopia's justice minister, Joel Simon, CPJ's Executive Director asked that Alemu, whose health has reportedly deteriorated since being held on terrorism charges, to withdraw the threat of placing her in solitary confinement.

Human rights and press freedom groups have long accused Addis Ababa of using its controversial terrorism legislation to curb opposition and stifle the media in the East African nation. "Prison authorities have threatened Reeyot with solitary confinement for two months as punishment for alleged bad behavior toward them and threatening to publicize human rights violations by prison guards" said CPJ's letter, which was published on its website.
Despite pledges to the contrary Ethiopia's Ministry of Justice has failed to ensure that Reeyot's full human rights have not been violated during her detention, which began in June 2011.
"We urge you to fulfill Ethiopia's promise to build a humane and democratic state by withdrawing the threat of solitary confinement against Reeyot and ensuring her access to adequate medical care" CPJ said.
"No journalists should face detention or imprisonment in the exercise of their duty"

Welcome to the whipped nation- FDRE By Yilma Bekele

Animal trainers use a whip with a stiff handle to show who the boss is. A whip is used to gain control and achieve compliance using pain. During slavery in the US whipping was a powerful weapon used by the white master.  Whipping to humiliate was the hallmark of the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Whipping is an old fashioned tool and really not that effective. Today psychological form of mental whipping is what is practiced by totalitarian regimes.

This cruel art was perfected by the old Soviet Union and taken to new heights by regimes such as East Germany. The Woyane regime in Ethiopia and the dictatorship in North Korean are the new practitioners of this inhuman method of turning a whole nation into one big concentration camp. How do they do that?

The North Koreans use communism in tandem with a home grown philosophy called Juche to reengineer the human brain. Individualism is substituted by collectivism, self- reliance and independence is not tolerated thus vertical collectivism meaning hierarchical form of structure is deemed to be the norm. With the old Soviet and China using it as a buffer for their own interest N. Korea has managed to survive for over fifty years as a pitiful example of man’s inhumanity to man. The demise of the Soviet Union and the slow pace of China’s crawl towards freedom is what is unnerving the N. Korean dictatorship.

One country, Ethiopia; one person, one vote! By Robele Ababya

Expression of solidarity

I do want to express my solidarity with the entire content of the special release by G-7 dated 31 March 2013 under the title “በአማራ ህዝብ ላይ እየተፈጸመ ያለው ግፍ በኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ላይ እየተፈጸመ ያለው ግፍ አካል ነዉ!”(The tyranny being inflicted on the Amhara people is part of the same being done on the Ethiopian people). I have a duty as a citizen to condemn ongoing tyranny in Ethiopia in the strongest possible terms without fear or favor as long as the EPRDF regime continues with its flagrant violation of universal human rights, inter alia:  ethnic cleansing of the Amaras; holding prisoners of conscience most of them Oromos; imprisonment of Muslim leaders demanding for their constitutional rights of electing their leaders.

In the face of tyranny and racism 

The 1974 revolution saw racism as detrimental to progress. For example, young men and women of the former Imperial Ethiopian Air Force produced the revolutionary song Tenesa Teramed (Stand up and stride) that was  short-lived but a popular revolutionary; it was broadcast all over Ethiopia with the enthusiastic approval of the Derg regime. The rallying song:  condemns differences based on race or creed; stresses the need for robust defense establishment; laments the wastage of our rivers and natural resources and; calls for economic development. It was taken of the air by the Derg because it was too nationalistic to the influential ideologists of the time. But the current inhuman tragedy afflicting the Amara people of Ethiopia has vindicated the validity of the song; I am glad that the revival of its spirit is being felt everywhere in the war against tyranny. Ethiopians need to be nationalists with global outlook, as it were act local and think global.

Ethiopia threatens journalist with solitary confinement – CPJ

New York, April 10, 2013 – In a letter to Ethiopia’s Justice Minister Berhan Hailu, the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern about the deteriorating health of Reeyot Alemu, a 2012 recipient of the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, who has been imprisoned since June 2011, and appealed for the withdrawal of threats of solitary confinement being used to intimidate her. Reeyot is serving a five year sentence following her conviction on vague terrorism charges based on her political reporting and commentary.

April 10, 2013

His Excellency Berhan Hailu
Minister of Justice
P.O. Box 1370
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Via facsimile: +251-11-517-755
Via email: justice@telecom.net.et
Dear Minister Birhan Hailu,

Right in Prison, Wrong on the Throne By Prof. Al Mariam

Last April, I wrote a “Special Tribute to My Personal Hero Eskinder Nega”.  In that tribute, I groped for words as I tried to describe this common Ethiopian man of uncommon valor, an ordinary journalist of extraordinary integrity and audacity.

Frankly, what could be said of a simple man of humility possessed of indomitable dignity? Eskinder Nega is a man who stood up to brutality with his gentle humanity. What could I really say of a gentleman of the utmost civility, nobility and authenticity who was jailed 8 times for loving liberty?  What could I say of a man and his wife who defiantly defended press freedom in Ethiopia, even when they were both locked up in Meles Zenawi Prison just outside of the capital in Kality for 17 months! What could anybody say of a man, a woman and their child who sacrificed their liberties, their peace of mind, their futures and earthly possessions so that their countrymen, women and children could be free!?Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega is a special kind of hero who fights with nothing more than ideas and the truth. He slays falsehoods with the sword of truth. He chases bad ideas with good ones. Armed only with a pen, Eskinder fights despair with hope; fear with courage; anger with reason; arrogance with humility; ignorance with knowledge; intolerance with forbearance; oppression with perseverance; doubt with trust and cruelty with compassion. Above all, Eskinder speaks truth to power and to those who abuse, misuse, overuse and are corrupted by power.

Ethiopia ready to censor, crackdown on Internet, radio and TV

Mohammed Awad,  April 05, 2013

ADDIS ABABA: Worries are abounding in Ethiopia that the government is preparing to pass new legislation that would censor almost all forms of media, both traditional and new.

The new draft law is reportedly being prepared by a steering committee constituting the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority, Ethiopian Ministry of Communications & Information Technology and Information Network Security Agency.

The Ethiopia Radio & Television Agency is also participating in the drafting process of the new law.

Activists and journalists and have lashed out at the government, saying it is a way of stifling any dissent and opposition to the government’s policies.

“We are fed up with this and hope that it will not come and happen because it would mean the end to any semblance of freedom of speech in the country,” 29-year-old activist and blogger Geteye told Bikyanews.com.