Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Saturday, June 16, 2012

New York (TADIAS) – Senator Patrick Leahy, a long-term and influential member of the United States Senate, has taken the cause of imprisoned Ethiopian Journalist and Blogger Eskinder Nega (recipient of the 2012 Pen America’s prestigious “Freedom to Write” award). Senator Leahy of Vermont, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, submitted a statement to the Congressional Record on Thursday, highlighting the upcoming verdict for Eskinder, which is expected to come later this month.

“I and other Members of Congress will be watching what happens in a courtroom 7,000 miles from Washington, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,” Senator Leahy said in the statement. “That is where a journalist named Eskinder Nega stands accused of supporting terrorism simply for refusing to remain silent about the Ethiopian government’s increasingly authoritarian drift.”

Senator Leahy added: “The trial is finished, and a verdict is expected on June 21. Eskinder Nega is not alone. Since 2011, the Ethiopian government has charged 10 other journalists with terrorism or threatening national security for questioning government actions and policies –- activities that you and I and people around the world would recognize as fundamental to any free press. Ironically, by trying to silence those who do not toe the official line, the government is only helping to underscore the concerns that many inside and outside of Ethiopia share about the deterioration of democracy and human rights in that country.”

David Carle, Communications Director and Press Secretary to Senator Leahy, told TADIAS that his boss has been concerned about the political situation in Ethiopia for a long time. “Senator Leahy has added conditions for several years and these are the latest,” he said referring to a pending bill for fiscal year 2013, which puts a number of restrictions on funds allocated to assist the Ethiopian military and police force. “His budget bill for FY2013 was approved a couple of weeks ago by the full Appropriations Committee and goes next to the Senate Floor,” the press secretary said.

The legislation requires the State Department to certify to the U.S. Senate that the “Government of Ethiopia is implementing policies to publicly disclose the military and police budget; protect judicial independence, freedom of expression, association, assembly, and religion; the right of political opposition parties, civil society organizations, journalists to operate without harassment or interference; and due process of law.”

Eskinder spent his younger years in the United States, attending high school and college in the Washington, D.C. area, and returned to Ethiopia 1991. Mr. Carle said the Ethiopian Diaspora has been instrumental in educating lawmakers about developments in Ethiopia. “Ethiopian-Americans have done a superb job in bringing these types of issue to the attention of Congress,” he told TADIAS. “Senator Patrick Leahy hopes that Ethiopians in the United States will continue to play a role.”

The full statement is available at www.leahy.senate.gov.
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Related:
Can Freedom of Press Happen in Ethiopia? (The Root)
US senator condemns Ethiopia’s persecution of the press (CPJ)