By Monica Campbell
...More than a year earlier, (click here) in June 2011, the two journalists had crossed into eastern Ethiopia from Somalia and embedded with members of the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front, or ONLF. "We'd heard about rapes, executions, and an exodus from the Ogaden region, and that a Swedish oil company had operations there," said Persson, who went to Ethiopia with Schibbye, a freelance writer, to report a story for the Swedish magazine Filter. "We wanted to go and see what was happening at the source." Ethiopian security forces seized the journalists during a raid on the separatist group. But unlike the cases of other foreign journalists who were expelled for covering issues Ethiopian authorities wanted to keep secret, the prime minister at the time, Meles Zenawi, called the Swedes "messenger boys of a terrorist organization" and authorized their prosecution under the country's anti-terrorism law. Ethiopian officials forced the journalists at gunpoint to participate in films re-creating their arrests--cartoonish skits with civilian actors playing ONLF members and the journalists cast as accomplices. "It was a circus," Schibbye said, "and we feared for our lives throughout."
Now, back in Stockholm, the journalists are troubled most by the six journalists still behind bars in Ethiopia, including the award-winning editor and blogger Eskinder Nega. "When we left the cell for the last time, everyone cheered," Schibbye said. " They said, 'Tell the world about us. Tell them what's happening.'"...
...CPJ research has tracked a significant rise in journalist imprisonments since 2000, a year before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States fueled the expansion of anti-terrorism and national security laws worldwide. The number of journalists jailed worldwide hit 232 in 2012, 132 of whom were held on anti-terror or other national security charges. Both are records in the 22 years CPJ has documented imprisonments. CPJ's analysis has found that governments have exploited these laws to silence critical journalists covering sensitive issues such as insurgencies, political opposition parties, and ethnic minorities....
There are human rights issues with jailed journalists as well. When the only journalist covering a region is jailed, it is oppression of the people and their right to know.
18.02.13 21:07
Uzbek human rights activists (click here) intend to appeal to the Uzbek ombudswoman and other relevant organisations within the country in a bid to release journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov.
The Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan (HRAU) aims to obtain this by 5 March, the expiration date of the amnesty announced in Uzbekistan in honour of the 20th anniversary of the constitution.
The leader of the HRAU Elena Urlayeva, has said that she and her colleagues will try to persuade authorities in Uzbekistan to release journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov, 62, before the end of the amnesty.
“He was the only human rights activist and independent journalist in Karakalpakstan, a very unfortunate region of the country, therefore we deem his release of high importance,” Urlayeva said....
...CPJ research has tracked a significant rise in journalist imprisonments since 2000, a year before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States fueled the expansion of anti-terrorism and national security laws worldwide. The number of journalists jailed worldwide hit 232 in 2012, 132 of whom were held on anti-terror or other national security charges. Both are records in the 22 years CPJ has documented imprisonments. CPJ's analysis has found that governments have exploited these laws to silence critical journalists covering sensitive issues such as insurgencies, political opposition parties, and ethnic minorities....
There are human rights issues with jailed journalists as well. When the only journalist covering a region is jailed, it is oppression of the people and their right to know.
18.02.13 21:07
Uzbek human rights activists (click here) intend to appeal to the Uzbek ombudswoman and other relevant organisations within the country in a bid to release journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov.
The Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan (HRAU) aims to obtain this by 5 March, the expiration date of the amnesty announced in Uzbekistan in honour of the 20th anniversary of the constitution.
The leader of the HRAU Elena Urlayeva, has said that she and her colleagues will try to persuade authorities in Uzbekistan to release journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov, 62, before the end of the amnesty.
“He was the only human rights activist and independent journalist in Karakalpakstan, a very unfortunate region of the country, therefore we deem his release of high importance,” Urlayeva said....
