(Picture -Ethiopian Army soldiers beat a foreign journalist in Addis Abeba, 2006. - AFP/POOL/CPJ)
New York, February 1, 2010—An Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to prison on Friday in connection with a January 2008 column that criticized Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia, according to local journalists.
Federal High Court Judge Mohammed Omar sentenced Editor Ezedin Mohamed of the Muslim-oriented newspaper Al-Quds to one year in prison. The precise charges were not immediately available but were related to a January 30, 2008, column that came in response to Zenawi’s interview with The Guardian of London that month, according to CPJ sources.
The Al-Quds column challenged Zenawi’s characterization of his country as “Orthodox Christian Ethiopia,” one source said. Mohamed has begun serving his sentence at Kality Prison outside the capital, Addis Ababa, sources said.
“The jailing of Ezedin Mohamed is another example of Ethiopia’s intolerance of independent and critical voices,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “It is high time for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to demonstrate his commitment to democratic values by ending the practice of imprisoning journalists.”
Mohamed is the fifth journalist imprisoned in Ethiopia, which is the second worst jailer of journalists in Africa, according to CPJ research. Only Eritrea jails more.
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:56 am
I guess the agamidos ordered the jounalist in their own words “shulokow”. Do you all remember what they did to Addis Ababa university students? The agamidos draw a line on the floor and ordered every students to pass through between the line and the ground. Funny this is how low and stupid they are. I call them Animals with military Uniform. Hope the west will call MelASS to secure his release.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:26 am
Personally i do not like Woyane regime or Meles Zenawe, but in this case i am with Meles zenawe, throughout history Ethiopia always been a Christian country, before even Islam immigrated to Ethiopia, the bible confirms this facts, even the koran aknowledge and confirms this facts.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:54 pm
jungle bell amharic version
ባስራ ሰባት መርፌ በጠቀመው ቁምጣ
ለለውጥ ያጎፈረው ዙፋን ላይ ሲወጣ
ለሶስት ሺ ዘመን በምላስ ምሰሶ
ተገንብቶ የቆመውን ድልድይ አፍርሶ
ሰራው አጠንክሮ በኮንክሪት ምሰሶ
እንዳይፈርስ አድርጎ እንዳይበሰብስም እንደ ምላስ ምሰሶ።
ባስራ ሰባት መርፌ በጠቀመው ቁምጣ
ለለውጥ ያጎፈረው ዙፋን ላይ ሲወጣ
የአህያን ምቾት አመዱንም አፍሶ
ኮረቱን አስፋልቱን በላዩ ላይ አፍሶ
አረገው መንገዱን አመድ አልባ
ይህንንም አይታ አህያ ሆድዋ ቢባባ
ኡ ኡ እሪ ብትል ብታነባ
ግቢ አላት ከጫካ ካለበቱ አመድ በዘረባ
ኡ ኡታዋን ቢታገሰው ባለጎፈሬ
እርግጫዋን መታገስ አልቻለም ባለ ሃገሬ
ወጋት እንጂ ማስታገሻ እንደ ወፈፌ
ባስራ ሰባት አመት በጠቀመበት መርፌ።
ባስራ ሰባት መርፌ በጠቀመው ቁምጣ
ለለውጥ ያጎፈረው ዙፋን ላይ ሲወጣ
ያገራችንን ድንበር ከዳር ዳር በጀግኖች አስተብቆ
ጠላት ሃገራችንን እንዳያጠፋት ተጠንቅቆ
መሬታችንን ከእብሪተኞች ነጥቆ
ዳግም እንዳይለምዳቸው አስጠንቅቆ
አጠረው ድንበሩን በፈንጅ
ሰርጎ እንዳይገባ የጠላት ወዳጅ።
ባስራ ሰባት መርፌ በጠቀመው ቁምጣ
ለለውጥ ያጎፈረው ዙፋን ላይ ሲወጣ
ሊገነባ የባቢሎን ግንብ
ተፈልጎ አንድ ቛንቛ አንድ ህዝብ
የጠበበ የዘቀጠ አስተሳሰብ እንደ ጅብ
አንድ ቛንቛ አንድ ህዝብ ማለቱ
መንፈራገጥ በከንቱ
ይላል ፋይዳ የለውም ባፍ ማራቱ
ባስራ ሰባት መርፌ በጠቀመው ቁምጣ
ለለውጥ ያጎፈረው ዙፋን ላይ ሲወጣ።
ባስራ ሰባት መርፌ በጠቀመው ቁምጣ
ለለውጥ ያጎፈረው ዙፋን ላይ ሲወጣ
በከተማ በገጠር መሰረተ ልማት አስፋፍቶ
ህዝቡን መብቱን አሳውቆ አንቅቶ
ህዝቡ የሚጠቅመውን ፓርቲ እንዲመርጥ መንገድ አመቻችቶ
አደረገው ባለመብት
ህዝቡም ተቀበለው በሙሉ እምነት።
ባስራ ሰባት መርፌ በጠቀመው ቁምጣ
ለለውጥ ያጎፈረው ዙፋን ላይ ሲወጣ
አዲስ ንጉስ እንጂ ለውጥ መቸ መጣ
ብሎ መዝፈን እንደሚቻል
አሳየን አየን እንደሌለ የማይቻል።
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Well journalists need to be responsible for what they write and say. Ethiopia is made up of primarily Orthodox Tewahdo Christains and Suni Moslems. Others are new comers and that is a fact!
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:34 pm
To Ethiopian
agree or disagree how does that goes with being jailed for one year?!?! I still have to wait why the guy is arrested.
What goes around comes around and I think we should be more tolerant to views other than the one we agree with.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Let us ignore the US government’s sources which often claim that Muslims are majority in Ethiopia (Muslims 45% and Orthodox Christians 40%). You can check this here http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2859.htm
The recent Population Census in Ethiopia also indicates that more than half (58%) of Ethiopian population is non-Orthodox (it states Orthodox 42% Muslims 34% and Protestants 18% and goes…..)
Things are changing in Ethiopia and we also should change our thinking with time. This is not the 17th or 18th century Ethiopia. Many of our thinking stuck with time but we have to be able to adapt with the new changes. There is a big difference between what we want and what is in actual reality. Remember that what governs reality is not our wish or whim but it is the undeniable fact in the ground.
The Protestants are all over the country now. We are witnessing with our own eyes that Protestantism is widely spreading in the cities and rural areas. Almost all of the Protestants were once Orthodox Christians – they don’t come from Mars. So, as a result of this every time the Orthodox Christians are diminishing in number. The recent population census states that every year millions of Orthodox Christians are converting to protestant Christians. This causes the Protestants to increase from 3% to 10% of their preceding statuses in the previous two censuses to 18% now while the Orthodox Christians decrease from 48% to 42%. So we have to change our thinking with the fact in the ground. Only claim cannot keep your existence – it is a free market you have to do your assignments - Otherwise you will be a loser. Don’t waste your time and energy by posting your old thoughts here. It will not help you and change reality.
Actually Meles is not as such interested in religion per se especially Orthodox Christianity but he done that for political reasons. This might be a response for the Muslims (especially in Addis) for not supporting EPRDF in the 97 election when they are expected to do that. In that election in Addis EPRDF had put its trust with the Muslims. They organized lots of campaigns to get the vote of the Muslims. They thought it would not be as such easy to get the support of the Muslims considering they have done some good things for the Muslims in contrast to the previous governments in the country. But, unfortunately ethnicity dominates swings people’s interest and the Muslims start looking for the representatives of their ethnicity and hence EPRDF looses terribly.
Considering Meles’s statement the journalist (Ezedin Mohammed) was actually saying whether you use the US government’s data or the county’s census in both cases you cannot say the Orthodox Christians are majority in Ethiopia. The journalist was right. Even though we agree that he was wrong he cannot be jailed just for saying that. This shows the lack of justice in Ethiopia. And most of the Diaspora even though we are highly against Meles in almost everything he does and say we will not criticize him for doing this, because we are famous for our double standards and lack of integrity. We often support democracy only if it serves and fits our interest. This shows most of us we are not for real democracy but we are for the dominance of our old and flawed ideology.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Some people in Ethiopia are thinking the democracy, land as the country and basic human rights only belong to them and other people who are diffefent from them are second class in Ethiopia. I wish we, as the people if we care about this region as the whole, we need to move away from one religion is the country’s religion. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi just repeating what Northerner practice since Ethiopia existed. He can say what ever he wants about religious affairs even if its wrong, but he can send someone else to jail because he has the power and can do it, not because its right. We should respect each religion and people of Ethiopia and tolerate each other and I think its in the best interest for all of us to treat people and their culture equally and tolerate each other for our own sake. We all suffer so much already we must learn from our past and present and work together for better tomorrow for all of us.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 pm
To Ethiopian
You said you fell in love with Meles in this case, just because he endorsed your view which is based on bigotry!
How funny that you wish to see over half of Ethiopian arrested just because they don’t agree with your view.
If you are struggling for `Christian Ethiopia`, which is constitutionally Secular…then good luck as you inevitably face others who would struggle for `Islam Ethiopia`.For every action there is a reaction!
May Allah forbid, but I think that is all this failing country infamous of hunger and instability needs to end up in in chaos.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:48 am
Ethiopia jails editor whose paper challenged Zenawi…
Thank you for submitting this cool story - Trackback from DigEthiopia…
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:06 am
አቶ መለስን ስለቸ ታስረዋል የሚባለው እንኩዋን ሎጂክ ያለው አይመስለኝም ሊሆንም አይችልም. ምክንያቱም, አቶ መለስ ሲተቹ የቆዩት የ በተ-ክርስትያን ክብርን የሚያሳንስ, ቀሶችን የሚሰድብ መግልጫ አሰምተዋል በሚል ነበር. በአጠቃላይ ግን በሀይማኖት ምክንያት ሊነሱ በሚችሉ የደህንነት ችግሮች ላይ የማያዳግም እርምጃ መወሰድ እንዳለበት አምናለሁ. በክርስትያን ተከታዩ በኩልም እንዲሁ ለ ግጭት የሚያነሳሱ ተግባራት እንዳየን ሁሉ በ ሙስሊሞች በኩልም ተመሳሳይ ተግባራት አይተናል. ኬንዲህ ያሉ ተግባርት የፖለቲካ ጥቅም ለማግኘት መሞከር ከግላዊ ጥቅሙ ሃገራዊ ጉዳቱ ስለሚያመዝን መጠንቀቅ ይኖርብናል እላለሁ.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:49 am
ምንነው ይህን ፎረም የልጆች መጫወቻ ባታደርጉት!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 4th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
As our old friend Karl Max has once said “Religion is the opium of the people”and it works always to the advantage to the ruling class.When we give religion more platform than it deserve the result is always violence through intolerance.Our christian and muslem history began with Violence, from mosses to Mohamed, and religion violence is the main cause of suffering to this day.We Ethiopians should not use our personal belief as a tool of dominating others.”AGER YEGARA NEW,HYMANOT YEGEL NEW”.I know Melese uses religion as one of his many tools of division.
February 7th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Forget what say the westren medias. When TPLF came to power in 1991, the westren espcially USA said that the muslims are majorities in ethiopia. Now when osma biladen punished them and when USA has faced high resistance in most muslim countries , USA and other westren countries started to say ethiopia is a nation of 80m people and with a christian majorities. The same thing goes with narrow minded Melese zenawi, when he goes to muslims countries to beg some financial support, he tells them your religion is a majority in ethiopia, when he goes to westren countries, he tells them we must stand againt the muslims. we are chritians. so goes a business as usual. normally melese is an atheist. he has no religion. his thrinity s are { leninen, marks and engles. So he doesn’t have any moral ground to talk about orthodox religion. His agazi burned so many churches since 1991 where as TPLF allowed to the saudi’s milinaries to build so many mosqes all over ethiopia even where there is no a single muslim . Of course ,the hsitory of this anncient nation is the history of ethiopia’s orthodox tewahedo church. The ethiopia’s orthodox tewahedo church became the holder of the holly ark some three thousand years ago where as the muslim religion 1400 years old on earth. you can see the difference. It the ethiopia’s orthodox church which saved the muslim religion when the saudi leaders at that time wanted to kill all the fellowers of mehamed. Ethiopia orthodox church gave them selther food and protect from saudi’s killers. read on ethio media. The muslim ethiopians can share the history of this oldest nation as an ethiopians, but the muslim religion doesn’t have any contribution for ethiopia’s civilazation, instead it destroyed so many churches and other percious historical places during geragn mehamed.