From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Jul 24 2009 - 08:03:55 EDT
RIGHTS-ETHIOPIA:
Fears Over New Anti-Terror Law
Omaeyr Rado
*ADDIS ABABA, Jul 23 (IPS) - A little over 18 years ago, when the ruling
Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power,
people were so eager to exercise democracy that even children started to
challenge their parents saying "this is my democratic right". Perhaps it was
too good to last.*
Earlier this month a new anti-terror law was passed, granting sweeping
powers to the state to detain people it deems threatening. It follows
closely on the heels of legislation that severely restricted the operations
of NGOs working human rights issues.
When 17 years of armed struggle finally ended the dictatorial rule of
Mengistu Haile Mariam and the Derg in 1991, the EPRDF started preaching
democracy, equality and human rights. The party soon proved impatient with
opposition of any kind.
In January 1993, the government carried out a brutal crackdown on students
at the Addis Ababa University (AAU) who were demonstrating against the
referendum on Eritrea's independence. The incident led to the death of at
least one student and 85 injuries when live ammunition fired into a crowd of
unarmed students by security forces. In April of the same year, the
government dismissed 40 professors from the AAU, reportedly because they
were deemed too critical.
There followed the harassment of the Ethiopian Teacher's Association (ETA),
its top leaders imprisoned. Human Rights Watch accuses the police of gunning
down the ETA's acting director, Assefa Maru, in 1997.
More recently, the 2005 election campaign - preceded by a loosening of
controls that saw opposition political parties able to freely debate issues
live on even state media - was followed by violent repression, despite the
EPRDF scoring a resounding victory.
The opposition won a record number of seats, but in limited parts of the
country; elsewhere, they alleged, government repression and intimidation had
prevented them from winning even more. Street protests in the capital, Addis
Ababa, led the deaths of nearly 200 at the hands of security forces.
Hundreds more were wounded and thousands arbitrarily detained, including
many leading opposition politicians. A number of prominent private
newspapers were closed, their owners and editors charged with genocide and
treason. Several were sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
Over almost two decades in power, the ruling party has maintained a tight
grip on power. Its latest moves suggest this is not about to change.
Several months ago, the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) law was approved
despite an uproar from local activists and the international community. This
law expressly limits "foreign" and "Ethiopian resident" CSOs - the latter
defined as any Ethiopian CSO that obtains more than ten percent of its
funding from sources outside the country - from doing any work related to
human rights, governance, and a range of other issues. The law makes it easy
for the state to refuse to register organisations.
The Ethiopian government this week suspended 42 NGOs for "exceeding their
mandate" in the southern part of the country.
Kenyan newspaper The Daily Nation reported that the organisations had their
licence revoked because, according to the local officials, they had supplied
information to the United States State Department about human rights abuses
in the area.
The names of the organisations were not released, but are understood to
include two local gender rights organisations and international humanitarian
agency Médécins Sans Frontières.
*Anti-terrorism law*
With the ink barely dry on the CSO law, parliament has now approved the
Anti-Terrorism Law, first crafted by the National Intelligence and Security
Agency and experts from the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Police four
years ago, and approved by the Council of Ministers in early June.
The law is premised on an extremely broad and ambiguous definition of
terrorist activity that could permit government to repress wide range of
internationally-protected freedoms, and contains provisions that undermine
fundamental due process rights, according to Human Rights Watch.
The United Nations special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights
has stated that the concept of terrorism should be limited to acts committed
with the intention of causing death or serious bodily injury, or the taking
of hostages.
Ethiopia's new law defines terrorism in such a way that it includes acts
that do not involve violence or injury to people, such as property crimes
and disruption of public services. The penalties range from 15 years to life
imprisonment or even a death sentence.
The law also gives police powers of arrest, search and seizure without
guarantees of due process.
The law also contains ambiguous language against material support for
terrorism. An analysis by HRW suggests that who even offered water or food
to a political protester might find themselves charged with aiding terrorism
under the new legislation.
"This [law] is a legal cover for every unlawful action the government has
been and is taking against political dissent and free press," said Beyene
Petros, chairman of the opposition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF)
party, which voted against the legislation.
But, Beyene argues, even without this law, the "security forces have been
above the law. They already make arbitrary arrests and stifle freedom of
expression; yet the law intensifies this practice.
"We objected to the fact that the law is against the country's constitution
and the issues it is planned to address are under the jurisdiction of the
existing criminal codes of the country," he said. "The country does not need
this law."
Though his Ethiopian Democratic Party also voted against the law, Lidetu
Ayalew, another opposition leader, believes Ethiopia needs some kind of
anti-terror law because it has been a victim of various terrorist acts.
In 2007, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) took responsibility for
an attack on Chinese run oil exploration field in Ogaden killing 74 people.
Numerous people have been killed in other bombings and grenade attacks in
Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, and elsewhere in the country in recent years. The
Ethiopian government has alleged that these attacks were carried out by
armed opposition groups like the ONLF, the Oromo Liberation Front - both
fighting for autonomy of various regions - as well as groups like Al-Itihad,
which springs from Ehtiopia's volatile neighbour Somalia.
The government alleges all these groups are terrorist. However, aside from
the ONLF's attack on the oil installation, the popular view is that the
government itself orchestrates these attacks to incriminate its oppositions;
a charge government officials of course deny.
Shimeles Kemal, deputy head of the Government Communication Affairs Office,
told IPS that in the current globalised world, no country is insulated from
the threat of terrorism.
"The normal court procedures will take the police more time than they have
to put terrorist threats under control," said Kemal.
"By the time the police seek a court warrant, the damage might have taken
place. This law is preventive and the police need the legal provision to
effectively do their job. Besides, terrorist acts are very different and
highly sophisticated from other crimes," he said.
The concerns of the EDP and the most of the rest of the opposition centre on
the very broad definition of terrorism at the heart of the bill, which
Lidetu says could serve to incarcerate opposition.
"This means the police can simply arrest opposition members for choosing
their preferred way to express their dissent including armed struggle or
demonstration," Lidetu told IPS.
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