Five days after editors at the independent weekly Addis Neger newspaper announced that they had fled Ethiopia and were closing down the newspaper because of concerns that the government intended to prosecute the paper’s editors and journalists under new anti-terrorism legislation, acting General Manager Solomon Daba was attacked and beaten at the newspaper’s offices yesterday evening, the paper’s managing editor, Mesfin Negash, told IPI from outside the country.
Daba was attacked by 9 or 10 plainclothes security agents at around six thirty on Tuesday evening, according to Negash.
“This incident shows how they are serious, and prepared to attack us,” he said. “There is no reason to attack a manager who has no relation to the content of the paper.”
According to Negash, Daba was recently given the job of General Manager, in anticipation of the senior editors’ departure from the country. For the past two years, Daba had worked in the finance and accounting department of the newspaper. He was chosen to oversee the final details of the closure of Addis Neger specifically because he is a “neutral person,” Negash told IPI.
At least eight editors and senior journalists with Addis Neger have fled Ethiopia, fearing for their safety, and concerned that the Ethiopian government plans to prosecute them using Anti-Terrorism Proclamation No. 652/2009, promulgated on 28 August 2009, under which they could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
The Addis Neger journalists who have left the country include Mesfin Negash (Managing Editor), Abiye Teklemariam (Executive Editor), Tamerat Negera(Editor-in-Chief), Girma Tesfaw (Cofounder and Deputy Editor-in-Chief), Masresha Mammo (Cofounder & Editor), Abrham Begizew (News Reporter), Zerihun Tesfaye (Economics Reporter), and Kassahun Yilam (Reporter).
Source:freemedia.at/
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