ETHIOPIA: Third newspaper editor jailed

3 February 2010

RAN 07/10

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) protests the one-year prison sentence handed to newspaper editor Ezedin Mohamed of the newspaper Al-Quds on 29 January 2010 for an article criticizing the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. The WiPC believes that Mohamed's conviction and imprisonment is in direct violation of his right to freedom of expression and opinion and is calling for his immediate and unconditional release.

Ezedin Mohamed, publisher and editor of Al-Quds, Ethiopia's largest Islamic newspaper, was sentenced to one year in prison on 29 January 2010. The exact nature of the charges is not clear but it is understood they relate to a January 2008 column that criticized Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for statements he made during an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian. The Al-Quds column reportedly challenged Zenawi's characterization of his country as "Orthodox Christian Ethiopia". (To read The Guardian interview, click here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/25/1).

Mohamed was previously arrested on criminal defamation charges in February 2008, along with Al-Quds publisher Maria Kadim and Salafiyya editor Ibrahim Mohamed Ali. The three were held in custody for two weeks before being released on bail.

The editor has reportedly begun serving his sentence at Kality Prison outside the capital Addis Ababa.

Background
Mohamed is the third newspaper editor to be jailed in Ethiopia in the last six months. On 24 August 2009, Ibrahim Mohamed Ali of Salafiyya (see above) and Asrat Wedajo, former editor of the now-defunct Seife Nebelbal, were each sentenced to one year in prison for their coverage of sensitive issues. They were reportedly convicted on under now-obsolete press laws for articles published several years ago. For more information, click here.