(AFP) ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia’s new anti-terror law strips journalists of the right to protect the identity of their sources, a top official said in a statement carried Saturday by the national news agency ENA.
“The anti-terrorism law revoked the rights of journalists not to disclose their information sources when they report on terrorism,” the agency quoted State Minister for Communication Shimeles Kemal as saying.
“The new law revoked this right taking into consideration the magnitude of disasters caused by terrorism,” he added.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, only one other African country has jailed more journalists than Ethiopia and only last week it imprisoned a columnist for criticising the prime minister.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch voiced concern before the bill was passed last year that some of its provisions were targeted at the nation’s media.
“A journalist interviewing an opposition politician or a supporter of an armed opposition group could be deemed to be ‘encouraging’ terrorism merely by publicising the views of the interviewee,” it said.
The Ethiopian government describes as terrorism the rebellions it has been trying to stamp out for years in the Oromo and Ogaden regions.
February 6th, 2010 at 9:10 am
You will see. They will even make it unlawful to read the free press for the same reason. The ant-terrorism and climate change are the recent cards of weyane to get blessings from its western masters.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
the tigrain will pay the price
February 6th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
the Foreign tigrain will pay the price
February 6th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Let us examine who is a terrorist in present Ethiopia. Here are the KEY CRITERIA of a terrorist act:
1- VIOLENCE — It is a recorded history that TPLF has been using violence to achieve its goal since 1974.
2- PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT and FEAR — TPLF killed a mother of 7 and has refused to prosecute the prepatrators of this heinous crime. This implies the act was done solely to create fear and terror in the population for I don’t see what kind of other objective can be achieved by murdering a mother of 7.
3- PERPETRATED FOR POLITICAL GOAL — TPLF murdered and injured 950 civilians in Addis Ababa in 2005 alone. These people were killed and maimed not because they were criminals but so that TPLF can achieve a certain political goal. And that is discourge people from opposing it and ensure its political hegemony as was stated in its political manifesto “REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRACY” written and published by the Tyrant himself in early 90’s.
4- DELIBERATE TARGETING OF CIVILIANS — If the murdering of a mother infront of her daughter in HER OWN HOME can not fit this bill, I am not sure what will. TPLF did that in 2005 as reported by VOA.
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These criteria indicate today TPLF is the only terrorist in Ethiopia. “The anti-terrorism law revoked the rights of journalists not to disclose their information sources when they report on terrorism,” the agency quoted State Minister for Communication Shimeles Kemal as saying. Let us hope journalists reporting on the activities of TPLF will end up in jail.
February 6th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
To me Ethioforum is a terrorist because by its successive actions of deletion of my post, it inculcated fear in me that any opinion I post may be deleted.
February 6th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
There should be some sort of professionalism of Check & Balance and Accountability, if not then rampant defamation will destroy the journalism it self, the innocents and the good organization.
February 7th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Ethioforum targetted me and deleted 2/3 of my posts. If Ethioforum is not a terrorist, who is?
February 7th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
“Ethiopian”
There should be professionalism….and I say Amen to that.When an unelected junta can put you in jail without due process of the law,assume there is one,in the name of George Bush’s war against terror,that sure sound to me accountability.Listen,you can not give cover to the stench of woyane no matter how hard you try.So Far the innocents are the victim of woyane than the journalist.
February 7th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
There is only a state terror in Ethiopia. They are the once killing people, arresting innocents, and warning people not to involve in the country’s affairs. THEY are certainly one of our severe enemies in the history of our beloved country, if not the worst.
February 8th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Check&balance? where the hell are you from.In Ethiopia we do not know what that means.Maybe you meant Jail&torture?
February 10th, 2010 at 4:00 am
New law forces journalists to reveal sources…
Thank you for submitting this cool story - Trackback from DigEthiopia…
February 12th, 2010 at 8:09 am
ነጻ እትመት የአንድን ሕብረተሰብ ንቃት ያስተሳሰብ የማመዛዘን የመብት የሃገርነት ሓላፊነትና ተጠያቂነትን የሚያስተምር አንድ ታልቅ መሳርያ በመሆኑ አሸባርው የውያነ መንግስት የሚያደርገው አፈና የሕዝቡን ንቃተ ሕሊና ለመቆጣጠር የፍርሃት መሳርያው የአሸባሪ ሕግ በመሆኑ የ20ኛው ክፍለዘመን electronic ውጤት የሚደበቅና የሚከለከል እንዳልሆነ ለመረዳት አልቻሉም ሳይሆን ትምክህት ለመሆኑ የተረዳነው ስለሆነ እንደነቅም የነቃ ሕዝብ ለማፈን ለተወሰነ ጊዜ መሆኑን ማሳውቅ የሁሉም ኢትዮጵያውያን ትግል ለመሆኑ በጽናት መቆም ያስፈልጋል