Pregnant Ethiopian journalist being held without charge

A pregnant journalist is being held in Ethiopia for two weeks now without being charged. Frezer Negash, a correspondent for the US-based Ethiopian Review was arrested on January 27. "No civilised state can tolerate such detention without trial," Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said,"and this denial of justice is even more deplorable because she is three months pregnant."

GUILTY AS NOT CHARGED: Frezer Negash, a correspondent for Ethiopian Review was arrested on January 27. Negash, three months pregnant, is being held at a police station in Addis Ababa. The police searched her home on the day of her arrest, confiscating a computer, a camera and various documents.

Negash is being held at Maikelawi police station in Addis Ababa. According to the Ethiopian Review, the police searched her home on the day of her arrest, confiscating a computer, a camera and various documents. She is appeared before a judge on February 6 but was told to return to her prison cell after the police told the judge that they did not have enough evidence to charge her yet.

According to RSF, Her lawyer was able to visit her on February 1 but he has not been told why his client was arrested. The authorities limited themselves to telling him that she was being held while the police pursue their enquiries.

Fanthaun Assres, the head of journalist accreditation for Ethiopia's information ministry, said Frezer did not have the proper paperwork. "Frezer has not been accredited by the government as an Ethiopian Review correspondent. She is unknown to us," Fanthaun told Reuters. "If she had been working in Ethiopia as it was alleged, it was illegal."

The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) has expressed alarm at Negash's plight. In a letter to Ethiopia PrimeMinister Meles Zenawi, IWMF co-chairs Larry Olmstead and Eleanor Clift, said, " As a network of more than 1,500 women in the media around the world who are supporters of a worldwide free press, we respectfully urge you to take immediate action to ensure that Negash and the other journalists are safely released. By using your power to ensure that justice is done in this case, you will take a strong step toward preserving a free and independent press in Ethiopia."

UNFAIR DEAL: Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Palace in the capital Addis Ababa, February 1. Zenawi calls donor decision to stop direct budget support over opposition crackdown "breach of trust" because Ethiopia has "met conditions" under which aid was given and added in general about reports from human rights group and in the press about widespread beatings, detention and torture of opposition supporters. (Reuters/Andrew Heavens)

"We are disturbed that Frezer Negash has joined at least 16 other journalists in jail in Ethiopia," said Ann Cooper, executive director of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "We call on Ethiopian authorities to release her immediately."

Ethiopian Review's publisher, Elias Kifle, and two other CPJ sources said that Ethiopian officials had recently threatened Negash over her work for the website, which is critical of the government. Kifle said that Negash was accredited by the Ethiopian government as an Ethiopian Review correspondent.

She also ran for parliament as an independent candidate in Ethiopia's May 2005 elections, but was defeated by a candidate from the opposition CUD party. Local sources told CPJ that Negash was known in the journalistic community in Addis Ababa, and that she attended government and opposition press conferences.