Behind Ethiopia’s recent mass arrests

Created on Sunday, 13 November 2011 00:32

Over the last three months, Ethiopia has ramped up crackdown on dissent using its sweeping anti-terrorism legislation. According to Human Rights Watch, the legislation is “premised on an extremely broad and ambiguous definition of terrorist activity that permits the government to repress a wide range of internationally protected freedoms, and contains provisions that ride roughshod over fundamental due process rights.”

There is a heightened urgency in Ethiopia at the moment with a slew of arrests. Several activists, opposition members, and journalists including two Swedes were recently charged with terrorism and for plotting to carryout acts of terrorism. OPride.com asked independent political analyst and researcher Jawar Mohammed for possible explanations behind the latest wave of arrests.

Related articles

• Swedish pair in Ethiopia jail deny terror charges (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Swedish journalists accused of terrorism face trial in Ethiopia (guardian.co.uk)
• Ethiopia charges six journalists with terrorism (afroaddis.wordpress.com)
• Ethiopia charges six journalists with terrorism (jontambek.wordpress.com)
• Ethiopia charges 24 with terrorism (jontambek.wordpress.com)

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