Journalist Tesema Desalegn Flees By ethiocnn Following the recent crackdown by the Ethiopian government on journalists and bloggers, the managing Editor and founder of a defunct magazine Tesema Desalegn has fled the country. Sources indicate that the journalist has left the country as the result of the deteriorating press freedom in the country and fearing the possible measure the government could take against journalists and members the newly established journalist association, Ethiopian Journalists Forum (EJF). Particularly, the propaganda in state owned and government affiliated media, which was indicating that the authorities were working to arrest additional journalists and bloggers and leadership of the new association has been the immediate cause for his flee. As it is known that only in the recent crackdown 3 journalists and 6 bloggers have been jailed. And another journalist was detained for 4 days and was released. In addition to Tesema, Betre Yacob, a Journalist and bloggers as well as the president of EJF has recently fled the country fearing for his life. The house of Betre Yacob was reportedly searched by police and his documents were taken while he was in Angola to attend a meeting organized by African Union on human right situation of the continent. Betre Yacob had been mentioned as a terrorist at state owned and government affiliated medias; he used to be accused of working for outlawed organizations and international human right institutions such as Article 19, CPJ, human Right Wach and others. Many claim that Betre was experiencing several grave problems particularly after he became the president of the association. Betre was believed by the governemnt to have been the master mind of the association. Tesema Desalegn was the founder and member of Ethiopian journalists Forum. The association has been reportedly under government attack since its inception. Reports indicate that the association has been denied a license and Betre was pushing the government to register it. Beside Tesema and Betre, other known journalists have been fled the country only in the past 6 months, and it has increased the number of those who fled the country since 2005. According to reports, currently nobody knows about the situation of Tesema and Betre, and many are expressing their concerns over the safety of the journalists. Ethiopia has remained the second top jailer of journalists in Africa, next to Eritrea, according to CPJ report. Reports indicate that about 50 journalists have fled the country only since 2008 as the result of the worst press freedom situation of the country. ireport.cnn/docs/DOC-1140475 petersworldnews/detail.php?fid=182510
Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 07:05:58 +0000
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