July 30, 1998
Toronto(IFJ/IFEX) - According to Amnesty International, Shimelis Kamal, Berhane Negash and Teferi Mekonnen of "Nishan" newspaper, were arrested in Addis Ababa on 13 July 1998, on account of an article criticising the government for detaining and deporting Eritreans.
The article reportedly warned against encouraging ethnic animosity. They were released after one day but rearrested the next day after they had issued a press statement criticising their arrests. The police are reportedly investigating whether they were funded by the Eritrean government, which they denied - they are not known to have any Eritrean connections and the articles did not support the Eritrean government.
All three had previously worked for "The Reporter" - Shimelis Kamal, a lawyer and former judge had been its legal adviser - and they had published just four issues of their new paper, "Nishan", which he edited. They have not yet been taken to court - previous court appearances were cancelled, although the law requires anyone arrested to be taken to court within 48 hours.
According to Amnesty International, the three detained journalists appear to be prisoners of conscience imprisoned for their non-violent opinions and for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
29 July 1998. SOURCE: International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Brussels. For further information, contact Cailin Mackenzie at the IFJ, Rue Royale, 266, B-1210 Brussels, Belgium, tel: +322 223 2265 or +322 219 7780, fax: +322 219 2976, e-mail: ifj.safety@pophost.eunet.be, Internet: http://www.ifj.org/
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