opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party. Sixteen of the 24 are being tried in absentia.
Rights groups urge Ethiopia to stop using anti-terror law to against journos - The Ethiopian government should stop using its overly broad anti-terrorism law against journalists and peaceful political activists, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) have said in a joint statement.
"The Ethiopian government is exploiting its vaguely worded anti-terror law to crush peaceful dissent,” the statement, released in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday quoted Rona Peligal, Deputy Africa Director at HRW as saying.
On Wednesday, the trial of 24 people charged with terrorism offences on 10 November will continue. Those charged include six journalists and two members of the
Several other terrorism trials of journalists and opposition activists are ongoing.
The Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009 includes an overbroad and vague definition of terrorist acts and a definition of "encouragement of terrorism” that makes the publication of statements "likely to be understood as encouraging terrorist acts” punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison.
These provisions mean that critics of government such as journalists and political opponents could be charged for encouraging terrorism, HRW and AI said.
The organisations urged the Ethiopian government to facilitate systematic monitoring of the trials by the diplomatic community, saying that the times and locations of hearings have been altered at the last minute at least twice during the ongoing trials.
The government should ensure that key information, including location and time of hearings, is available to the public, they said.
Both groups have long called for the anti-terrorism law to be amended to bring it into line with Ethiopia’s domestic and international legal obligations.
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