Year: 2017
- Africa
Breaking News: Ethiopia court found former senior opposition figure Yonatan Tesfaye guilty of terrorism charges
Mahlet Fasil Addis Abeba, May 16, 2017 – The Federal High court fourth criminal bench has today passed a guilty verdict against Yonatan Tesfaye, former opposition Blue Party public relations head. Yonatan was first arrested in December 2015, barely a month after the first wave of a year-long #Oromoprotests erupted. He was held incommunicado during the pre-trial weeks and…
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News: High profile terrorism charge against senior OFC officials, others keeps dragging as court once again adjourned key verdict
Mahlet Fasil Addis Abeba, May 15, 2017 – The federal high court 4th criminal bench has once again adjourned to June 07 a key verdict on one of the high-profile terrorism charges in the file name of the first defendant Gurmesa Ayano et al. Included in this file are also high profile opposition party members Bekele Gerba and Dejene…
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Book Review: ‘Pharaoh: The Symbol of Dictators’: By Ahmedin Jebel
Original Title in Amharic: [ፈርዖን፡ የአምባገነኖች ተምሳሌት] Author: Ahmedin Jebel Published: Aug. 2015 Reviewed by Abadir M. Ibrahim, for Addis Standard Addis Abeba, May 12, 2017 – The author wrote the book during his time in prison, where he remains for over four and a half years at the time this review is published. While it is interesting to read…
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Commentary: The Chief Commissioner’s visit and its fallout
Merhatsidk Mekonnen Abayneh, For Addis Standard Bahir Dar, May 9, 2017 – Being one of the first 51 founding members of the United Nations, Ethiopia’s relation with the world body is as old as the latter’s formation way back in June 1945. In fact, it was one of the earliest ratifiers of the UN Charter which happened on November…
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Interview: “My persona as an engineer and a musician is quite different” Sami Dan
Reggae singer & songwriter Samuel Berhanu’s debut album is entitled “Keras Gar Negeger” (Speaking with oneself). Samuel Berhanu, who goes by the stage name Sami-Dan, is a graduate of the Addis Abeba University (AAU) in Construction Technology & Management in 2001. He is an Engineer by profession but music has been his passion for as long as he can…
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Op-Ed: Fear of investigation: what does Ethiopia’s government have to hide?
By Felix Horne, for Addis Standard Addis Abeba, April 21, 217 – In February 2016, an 18-year-old student who I will call Tolessa and two friends took part in their first protest, in Oromia’s East Hararghe zone. As the crowd moved forward, they were met by a line of regional police, federal police and the army. Shortly thereafter and…
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News: Rights Commission say security measures that killed hundreds of civilians during recent protests mostly proportional
Liyat Fekade Addis Abeba, April 18/2017 – Shortly after Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn spoke to the BBC rejecting the need for a UN inquiry, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, (EHRC), a government body tasked to investigate recent anti-government protests that rocked Ethiopia, said a total of 669 Ethiopians were killed during recent protests. But the rights commission said…
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News: Jailed Ethiopian journalist and opposition politician find neither justice nor clear prison jurisdiction to host both
Mahlet Fasil Addis Abeba, April 12, 2017 – Jailed Ethiopian journalist Elias Gebru and former opposition party leader Daniel Shibeshi say prison officials at the Bole Sub City detention facility, where they have been held for the last five months without charges, have told them that they are neither able to bring them to a court of law nor…
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Analysis: History repeating itself in the Horn of Africa: Is the crime in Darfur being replicated in Eastern and Southern Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia?
By J. Bonsa (PhD), Special to Addis Standard Addis Abeba, April 10, 2017 – It is saddening to witness repetitions of similar tragic events in history. Recurrences of such dreadful events can even sound farcical when they happen in a very short span of both time and space. This is exactly what is currently happening in the Horn of…
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News: Ethiopia Supreme Court set free two members of zone9 bloggers, rules two others to defend criminal charges
Mahlet Fasil Addis Abeba, April 06, 2017 – Ethiopia’s Supreme Court has today passed its long-awaited verdict on prosecutor’s appeal against the acquittal from terrorism charges of four members of the Zone9 blogging collective. According to today’s verdict, the Supreme Court overruled prosecutor’s appeal and upheld the ruling by the federal high court to acquit first defendant Soliana Shimelis…
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