Tag Archives: CPJ

Featured, News

Update: The Year’s Top 10 ‘Jailers of Journalists’

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2012

New York (TADIAS) – The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists released its 2012 census of imprisoned journalists yesterday identifying 27 offending countries with 232 writers, editors, and photojournalists behind bars this year, an increase of 53 from 2011 and the highest since the organization began the survey in 1990. According to CPJ, the 2012 figure surpasses the previous record of 185 journalists imprisoned in 1996.

The report said the trend was driven primarily by terrorism and other anti-state charges levied against critical reporters and editors.

CPJ highlighted Turkey, Iran, and China as the three leading jailers of journalists, while Eritrea and Ethiopia are the only African countries that are listed among the top ten press offenders.

“Rounding out the top five jailers were Eritrea, with 28 journalists in prison, and Syria with 15; the worst abusers of the rule of law,” the organization said. “None of the journalists in jail in either country have been publicly charged with a crime or brought before a court or trial.”

More than half (118) of those held globally were online journalists and more than a third were freelancers.

CPJ singled out Burma for “some improvement” this year: “For the first time since 1996, Burma did not rank among the nations jailing journalists. As part of the country’s historic transition to civilian rule, authorities released at least 12 imprisoned journalists in a series of pardons in 2012.”

Of the 27 countries imprisoning journalists, the top 10 jailers were:

Turkey: 49
Iran: 45
China: 32
Eritrea: 28
Syria: 15
Vietnam: 14
Azerbaijan: 9
Ethiopia: 6
Saudi Arabia: 4
Uzbekistan: 4

Click here to read the full report at CPJ.
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Related:
Court delays Eskinder Nega’s appeal (Africa Review)
MEPs urge Ethiopia to release journalist (The Guardian)
Record number of reporters jailed globally (BY kirubel Tadesse/AP)
Federal High Court Expresses Doubts About Eskinder Nega’s Conviction (VOA)
Friends and Supporters React to Reeyot Alemu’s Media Award (TADIAS)
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News

Ethiopia Accuses Two Journalists of Terrorism Plot

Tadias Magazine
News Update

Updated: Thursday, June 30, 2011

New York (Tadias) – The Ethiopian government announced today that two journalists were among nine people that were arrested last week on charges of planning terrorist attacks.

According to press reports: “Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said Wednesday that two journalists were among those arrested. He says they were involved in planning attacks on infrastructure, telecommunications and power lines. Shimeles says two other suspects are members of an opposition party. Shimeles says the suspects were supported by Ethiopia’s archenemy Eritrea and by an international terrorist group, which he did not name. International media rights groups have been calling for the release of Reeyot Alemu, a columnist for the independent weekly Feteh, and Woubshet Taye, deputy editor-in-chief of the weekly Awramba Times newspaper.”

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Kemal said the arrests of the two journalists had “nothing to do with viewpoints they have published.”

But The Committee to Protect Journalists says Alemu had recently criticized the government’s fundraising method for the Nile dam project, and Taye has critically covered local politics as the deputy editor of his newspaper.

“These accusations against Woubshet Taye and Reeyot Alemu must be viewed in light of the Ethiopian administration’s longstanding practice of using trumped-up charges to silence and jail critical independent journalists,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “It is outrageous that a government spokesman should publicly accuse journalists of terrorism when they have not been charged with any crime and are unable to respond because they are in detention. They should be freed immediately.”

According to CPJ, Ethiopia ranks as the second leading African jailer of journalists, behind Eritrea.
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Related:
Human Rights and the War on Terror in Ethiopia (Jurist)

Featured, News, Podcast

Spotlight on Dawit Kebede: Winner of the 2010 Press Freedom Award

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Above: Dawit Kebede, Editor of Awramba Times newspaper in
Ethiopia, was honored with CPJ’s 2010 press freedom award.

Tadias TV
Events News

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

New York (Tadias) – Ethiopian journalist Dawit Kebede, Founder and Managing Editor of Awramba Times, was one of four journalists who were honored at the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 20th Annual International Press Freedom Awards benefit dinner on the evening of Tuesday, November 23rd at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria. Dawit Kebede was one of the first journalists to be jailed for reporting on the violence following Ethiopia’s 2005 national elections. He was released two years later by presidential pardon. He continues to live and work in Addis Ababa where he publishes the last independent political Amharic newspaper in the country.

The CPJ event, which attracted nearly 1000 guests, also paid tribute to award winners Nadira Isayeva of Russia, Laureano Márquez of Venezuela and Mohammad Davari of Iran (Davari did not attend the ceremony because he remains imprisoned in Iran).

The awards dinner raised a record of nearly $1.5 million for CPJ. It was chaired by Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman and President of Sony Corporation, and hosted by former “NBC Nightly News” Anchor Tom Brokaw. The award presenters included Christiane Amanpour, Host of ABC News’ “This Week,” Victor Navasky, Chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review, and Robert Thomson, Editor-in-Chief of Dow Jones & Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal.

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Events

Journalists Honored With Press Freedom Awards

Above: Dawit Kebede, Editor of Awramba Times newspaper in
Ethiopia, was honored with CPJ’s 2010 press freedom award.

Tadias Magazine
Events News

Updated: Wednesday, November 24, 2010

New York (Tadias) – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based advocacy group that monitors the well-being of media professionals around the world, held its 20th Annual Awards Dinner on Tuesday, November 23rd in New York City. The event recognized four journalists: Dawit Kebede of Ethiopia, Nadira Isayeva of Russia, Laureano Márquez of Venezuela, and Mohammad Davari of Iran, who are recipients of the 2010 International Press Freedom Award.

The awards dinner, which raised a record of nearly $1.5 million for CPJ’s work, was chaired by Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and president of Sony Corporation, and hosted by former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw, replacing current NBC anchor Brian Williams, who was originally scheduled to host the evening.

According to CPJ, Dawit Kebede, who is the Founder and Managing Editor of Awramba Times, was one of the first journalists to be jailed following Ethiopia’s 2005 disputed national elections, which also resulted in the unfortunate crackdown on press freedom. “Kebede, 30, was among the last to be released under a presidential pardon nearly two years later,” CPJ notes on its web site. “Unlike many of his colleagues who went into exile, Kebede chose to stay in Ethiopia after he walked free from Addis Ababa’s Kality Prison.”

“Here are three things people should know about me,” Kebede says. “First, it is impossible for me to live without the life I have as a journalist. Second, unless it becomes a question of life and death, I will never be leaving Ethiopia. Third, I am not an opposition. As a journalist, whatsoever would be a governing regime in Ethiopia, I will never hesitate from writing issues criticizing it for the betterment of the nation.””

The organization also presented a 2009 International Press Freedom Award to J.S. Tissainayagam of Sri Lanka, who was jailed and could not accept the honor in person last year.

Click here for Tadias TV’s coverage of the event.

Here are biographies of the awardees courtsey of CPJ:

Mohammad Davari, Iran

RAHANADavari, 36, editor-in-chief of the news website Saham News, exposed horrific abuse at the Kahrizak Detention Center, videotaping statements from detainees who said they had been raped, abused, and tortured. The center was closed in July 2009 amid public uproar, but by September of that year the coverage had landed Davari in Evin Prison. Read more.

Nadira Isayeva, Russia

Isayeva, 31, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Chernovik (Rough Draft) in the southern republic of Dagestan, has incurred the wrath of security services in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus for her relentless reporting on their handling of violence and militant Islam in the region. In 2008, authorities brought a criminal case against her under anti-extremist legislation after she published an interview with a former guerrilla leader, who accused local authorities of corruption and of being in thrall to the Kremlin. Read more.

Dawit Kebede, Ethiopia

Kebede, 30, was one of the first journalists to be jailed for independent reporting on Ethiopia’s 2005 election violence. The government rebuffed Kebede’s attempts to get a publishing license after his release but relented in the face of public pressure. Kebede launched the Awramba Times in 2008, and today it is the country’s only Amharic-language newspaper that dares question authorities. Read more.

Laureano Márquez, Venezuela

If there were an Algonquin Round Table in Caracas, Laureano Márquez would have a seat. Journalist, author, actor, and humorist, Márquez has found rich fodder in Venezuela’s idiosyncratic political landscape. He is the scourge of left-wing President Hugo Chávez and other politicians for his biting columns in the Caracas-based daily Tal Cual and other national publications. Read more.