Ethiopia: Court finds journalist guilty over Facebook comments

Getachew Shiferaw

ESAT News (May 24, 2017)

A court in Ethiopia passed a guilty verdict on a journalist over a Facebook comment he made five years ago, in what Amnesty International called “a further slap in the face for justice in Ethiopia and proof of the authorities’ continued willingness – despite its stated commitment to reform – to misuse the criminal justice system to silence dissent.”

The former editor-in-chief of the Negere Ethiopia newspaper, Getachew Shiferaw, was initially charged with terrorism offences over a Facebook comment he made five years ago, when journalist and activist Abebe Gellaw confronted the late dictator Meles Zenawi at a global forum in Washington, DC. The charge, which was linked to terrorism initially, was downgraded to criminal offence of “inciting violence” following international uproar against the brazen act by the regime.

The protest by Abebe Gellaw against the leader of the tyrannical regime which has gone viral then is still a hot topic in the Ethiopian social media and political circles. Getachew Shiferaw, as thousands of his compatriots did, commented on his Facebook saying oppressors need to face their critics in international forums, a strategy of peaceful struggle he dubbed “Abebeism.”

Regime prosecutors said Shiferaw’s comment had violated the country’s anti-terror proclamation and judges backed prosecutors saying Getachew publicly endorsed Abebe Gellaw, who is also convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 15 years in absentia for his sharp criticism of the regime. “Shiferaw may heckle and disrupt officials, should he get a chance” the judges said. Sheferaw is also accused of having links to opposition groups and journalists abroad.

According to BefeQadu Z. Hailu, former prisoner of conscience and member of the bloggers collective Zone9, “While reading the verdict, the judges underlined that Getachew, in his private Facebook conversation, said «‘Abebeism’ [to intervene while authorities are publicly speaking] is a good strategy. Every authority who oppresses citizens must know that their honor can be undermined similarly.» This, said the judges, is endorsing what journalist Abebe Gellaw – who was convicted in absentia of violating the infamous ‘ATP’ – has done against the late PM Meles.”

“This is the worst travesty of justice I have ever heard. If exercising my free speech rights is a crime, they should free Getachew and charge me instead of Getachew Shiferaw,” said Abebe Gellaw, who is now the Executive Director of the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio (ESAT), a foreign based independent media. He denied that there has never been any contact between him and the accused.

“But freedom of expression is guaranteed under the constitution, even if it is not worth the paper it is written on. This and similar cases clearly show that courts are tools of repression in Ethiopia under the minority TPLF-led regime,” he added.

Getachew Shiferaw has been detained since December 2015, and faces a maximum of ten years when the kangaroo court sentence him in two days.

This is the second conviction in a month over a Facebook comment by the the Ethiopian court , which works in tandem with the regime to silence dissents and critical journalists.

A court in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa last week found opposition politician Yonatan Tesfaye “guilty” of terrorism due to Facebook comments he made during the anti-government protests a year ago.

“Getachew did nothing but share publicly-available information – to convict him of provoking revolt with the risk of a 10-year jail term, away from his loved ones, is cruel and unacceptable,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

The world’s leading jailer of journalists, the Ethiopian regime, has at least 15 journalists behind bars.