Sign This and Go Home: The Confession Ethiopia Wants From Five Journalists
Five Ethiopian journalists detained for three years on terrorism charges have been offered release if they sign letters admitting guilt and renouncing their work. Their lawyer argues that the government's demand for self-incrimination is legally and ethically flawed.
Why it matters
This case highlights significant concerns regarding press freedom, due process, and the use of the judicial system to suppress political dissent in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is offering five detained journalists a choice between their freedom and admitting to crimes they say they did not commit.
Development Diaries reports that Gobeze Sisay, Meskerem Abera, Genet Asmamaw, Dawit Begashaw and Abay Zewdu have spent three years in detention awaiting trial on terrorism charges linked to their reporting on unrest in the Amhara region, and were offered release in August if they wrote apology letters admitting involvement in an insurgency, expressing remorse and promising to stop working as journalists.
Their lawyer, Solomon Gezahagn, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the five refused to sign the letters because doing so would amount to self-incrimination.
He also said that prison officials threatened and isolated the journalists to pressure them into writing their own versions of a draft document provided by the government.
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