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Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Captivity in the Name of ‘Defamation’!

(The origional version of this story is published in Amharic on Ethiopian Human Rights Project website.)

The past year ended with two notable controversies between the press and Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC). The first one was concluded with a rare rule from an Ethiopian court that served justice to the press. The second one, undeservedly awarded the EOC a victory against a journalist who reported what happened, as it happened.

The first was 100% critical comment against the patriarch of EOC who, according to the writer Daniel Kibret, is negligent when corruption is spread in the church. The latter is a news report (pictured below) that referred to a letter written by community and priests of St. Mary’s Church, which is also a seat for the EOC patriarch.

The critical opinion written by the renown Daniel Kibret was published on Sendek newspaper; while, the news report was published on Ethio-mihidar newspaper, known for giving space to dissent voices of Ethiopia. Editor-in-chief of Sendek, Frew Abebe, acquitted on January 25, 2017 from the ‘defamation’ charge by the patriarch of EOC. However, editor-in-chief of Ethio-midihdar, Getache Worku, found ‘guilty’ of another but related ‘defamation’ charges against EOC’s St. Mary church administration and sentenced to 1 year of imprisonment and fine of ETB 1,500 on 15 November 2016; furthermore, his newspaper is also subjected to ETB 10,000 fine for running the news. In the case of Sendek newspaper, it was only the editor-in-chief against whom the charge was pressed; in the case of Ethio-mihidar newspaper, on the other hand, the publishing firm itself is accused of ‘running the defamation story’ in addition to the editor-in-chief.

Monday, May 1, 2017

የረቂቅ አዋጁ ዓላማ ምንድን ነው?

“የኦሮሚያ ክልል በፊንፊኔ/አዲስ አበባ ላይ ያለውን ሕገ መንግሥታዊ ልዩ ጥቅምን አስመልክቶ የተዘጋጀ የጥናት ሰነድ” የሚል ባለ 46 ገጽ ሐተታ እና በዚሁ መሠረት የተዘጋጀ ረቂቅ አዋጅ በኢንተርኔት ተለቀዋል፡፡ አዘጋጁ ኦሕዴድ የሚመራው የኦሮሚያ መንግሥት ነው ተብሎ ቢገመትም በኦፊሴላዊ መንገድ ስላልተለቀቀ እርግጠኛ መሆን አልተቻለም፡፡ እስካሁን ድረስ ማስተባበል የነበረበት መንግሥታዊ አካል ስላላስተባበለ እና ከውዥንብሩ መውጣት ስላልቻልን እንዲሁም ረቂቁ ትችት ስለሚያስፈልገው፣ ረቂቅ አዋጁ ላይ የሰፈሩት አንዳንድ ጉዳዮች አሳሳቢነት ላይ ያለኝን አስተያየት አሰፍራለሁ፡፡

የኢፌዲሪ ሕገ መንግሥት አንቀጽ 49/5 እንዲህ ይነበባል፣ “የኦሮሚያ ክልል፤ የአገልግሎት አቅርቦት ወይም የተፈጥሮ ሀብት አጠቃቀምንና የመሳሰሉትን ጉዳዮች በተመለከተ እንዲሁም አዲስ አበባ በኦሮሚያ ክልል መሐል የሚገኝ በመሆኑ [የተነሳ] ሁለቱን የሚያስተሳስሩ አስተዳደራዊ ጉዳዮችን በተመለከተ ያለው ልዩ ጥቅም ይጠበቅለታል፡፡ ዝርዝሩ በሕግ ይወሰናል፡፡”

የረቂቅ አዋጁም በመግቢያው ላይ ዓላማውን “ዝርዝሩ በሕግ ይወሰናል” በተባለው መሠረት እንደሆነ ይናገራል፤ “የጥናት ሰነዱም” የተዘጋጀው ሕገ መንግሥቱን መሬት ላይ በማውረዱ ሒደት እንደሆነ ያትታል፡፡ ቢያንስ ጥናቱ፣ በአዲስ አበባ ማስፋፊያ ማስተር ፕላን ሳቢያ ተቆስቁሶ ለብዙ ንፁኃን ሕይወት ማለፍ መንስዔ የሆነውን በርካታ ጥያቄዎችን ያነገበው ሕዝባዊ አመፅ እንደምክንያት በመጥቀስ እውነት ለመናገር መድፈር ነበረበት፡፡ የዚህ ሰነድ ባለቤት ኦሕዴድ ቢሆንም የሕወሓትን ይሁንታ ሳያገኝ እዚህ ደረጃ እንደማይደርስ መገመት ቀላል ነው፡፡