Monday, March 31, 2014

Ethiopia: Eastern Africa journalist association urges Ethiopia to release jailed Somali Journalist

From: AllAfrica

The Ethiopian government should reverse the 27-year prison sentence handed down to veteran Somali journalist Mohamed Aweys Mudey in Addis Ababa, on trumped up terror charges, the Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) said at the closing ceremony of its regional press freedom monitors workshop in Bujumbura, Burundi. EAJA supports its affiliate, the National Somali Journalists Union (NUSOJ), which has launched a petition to free Mohamed Aweys Mudey. He was sentenced at the end of February this year on charges of "terrorism" under Ethiopia' anti-terror law. Mudey is accused of having information about Al-Shabaab operations in Ethiopia and charged for participating in terror activities.

EAJA calls on Ethiopian authorities to reverse the sentence and release the journalist. "We back the campaign led by the National Union of Somali Journalists to free Mohamed Aweys Mudey and call on the government of Ethiopia to reverse this situation. We will fight for Mudey's release," said Alexandre Niyungeko, EAJA Secretary General. Niyungeko said EAJA is concerned with the case of the Somali journalist and others in the region, which point to a pattern of intimidation and harassment of journalists, adding this constituted a grave affront to press freedom in the region.

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