June 15, 2005

His Excellency Dr. Berhanu Dibaba, Ambassador
The Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
151 Slater Street, Suite 210
Ottawa, ON
Canada K1P 5H3

Excellency,

I am writing on behalf of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect press freedom and freedom of expression around the world.

CJFE is alarmed by the crackdown on independent media by the government of Ethiopia since elections on May 15. Journalists and members of the media community have faced harassment, censorship, detention and arrest while trying to cover election results, allegations of voting fraud and violent clashes between police and opposition groups.

On June 2, six editors from the private weeklies, Abay, Addis Zena, and Menili were detained and questioned by officials in connection with their coverage of the election. On June 6, police confiscated the cameras of Associated Press photographers Anthony Mitchell and Boris Heger as they covered violent student protests. They were later detained for seven hours by police when they went to recover their equipment that had been erased of any photographs.

The next day, the Information Ministry revoked the accreditation of Helen Mohammed, Temam Aman and Bereket Teklu of Voice of America and Taddesse Engidaw and Assegedech Yiberta, of Deutsche-Welle. The Ministry also threatened to "take similar action in [the] future if journalists are found filing false and unbalanced reports." On June 8, Fikre Gudu, a major newspaper distributor in Addis Ababa, was arrested without public explanation and has yet to be released. It is unclear whether he has actually been charged with a crime.

We call on the government to end this sustained harassment of the press by the Ministry of Information and the police and to allow the media of Ethiopia to exercise the right to freedom of expression without fear of official recrimination.

We request your Embassy convey our concerns to the Government of Ethiopia. I look forward to receiving your prompt reply.

Yours truly,

Rod Macdonell
Executive Director

Case File Number: PL05-09

CC: Mrs. Rosaline Murray, Ambassador The Canadian Embassy to Ethiopia
The Honourable Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of Foreign Affairs