December 15, 2000

 GOVERNMENT CONTINUES HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS

 The president of the Ethiopian Free Journalists Association, Kifle Mulat, and the editor of ETHIO-TIMES,Shimeles Asfaw, were summoned to the CID headquarters by the police . The summons were issued to harass the mentioned journalists and the EFJA. In the past, the government has used police summons and interrogations as part of its routine actions to threaten and demoralize journalists. It is to be noted that the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi continues with the relentless action against the independent journalists and the non- governmental press.

The government controls the mass media either directly or through its ruling party (the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front/TPLF/). Numerous journalists are languishing in prison and have given the government the unenviable distinction of being one of the most repressive anti-free press governments in the world. SOCEPP calls on the government in Addis Abeba to respect the rights of the independent journalists and to end the multi faceted harassment of the EFJA and its members.

SOCEPP