Government retaliates against jailed journalists, heightens online censorship.

» New leader continues Meles Zenawi's onslaught on the press.

» Government retaliates against jailed journalists, heightens online censorship.

A year after the death of Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn succeeded in preserving the repressive climate in Ethiopia. Several journalists faced interrogation or prosecution for writing about the late leader, his policies, and even his widow. One journalist, Temesghen Desalegn, former chief editor of the critical weekly Feteh, was charged in February with defaming the government in connection with his articles on Meles. Some reporters attempting to cover other sensitive topics, like anti-government protests and the forced eviction of farmers, were also detained and harassed, while others fled the country fearing arrest. The government did not disclose the health, whereabouts, or legal status of two journalists who have been in custody for seven years. Authorities banned two independent newspapers, accusing them of violating press regulations, as well as a private broadcaster which was reporting extensively on peaceful protests by Ethiopian Muslims. The country faced international condemnation over the imprisonment of award-winning journalists Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, and Woubshet Taye, who were serving heavy terms on vague terrorism charges, but the Ethiopian government retaliated by imposing harsher conditions on them, including the threat of solitary confinement. Authorities continued to crack down on the online press by increasing its “technological capacity to filter, block, and monitor Internet and mobile phone communications,” according to an October report by Freedom House.

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• 6

  Retaliatory measures in prison

• 7

  Journalists jailed

• 3

  News outlets banned

• 7

  Years of detention

• 70

  News and opinion websites blocked

Ethiopia’s Federal Prison Administration issued a series of threats and restrictions to Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu and Woubshet Taye, award-winning journalists who were serving harsh prison terms on vague terror charges.

CPJ found that the measures were in contravention of the prisoners’ rights under the constitution and international regulations governing the treatment of detainees.

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TIMELINE OF RETALIATION:

April 2013:	Prison officials threaten Reeyot with solitary confinement for two months.
April 19, 2013:	Prison officials transfer Woubshet from Kilinto Prison, outside Addis Ababa, to a detention facility in the town of Ziway, about 83 miles southeast of the capital and far from his family.
September 10, 2013:	Prison officials limit the number of visitors allowed to see Reeyot. She goes on hunger strike to protest the arbitrary restriction, and authorities retaliate by limiting visitors to her parents and a priest.
September 13, 2013:	Prison officials ban Reeyot’s younger sister and her fiancé from her visitor list.
October 2013:	Prison officials restrict Eskinder's visitors to four family members.
December 2013:	Prison officials ignore doctors' orders that Woubshet be transferred to a properly equipped medical facility in connection with kidney pains the journalist suffered, and instead send him back and forth between prisons.

=>read more at cpj