{"id":9911,"date":"2015-12-31T11:38:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-31T16:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/?p=9911"},"modified":"2015-12-31T11:39:20","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T16:39:20","slug":"united-states-urges-ethiopia-to-release-imprisoned-journalists-amid-violent-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/9911","title":{"rendered":"United States Urges Ethiopia to Release Imprisoned Journalists Amid Violent Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/10012438_636043659800894_3914093501145896909_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-9912 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/10012438_636043659800894_3914093501145896909_n-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"10012438_636043659800894_3914093501145896909_n\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/10012438_636043659800894_3914093501145896909_n-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/10012438_636043659800894_3914093501145896909_n-220x146.jpg 220w, http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/10012438_636043659800894_3914093501145896909_n.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The United States has expressed concern over the recent arrest of journalists in Ethiopia amid deadly protests over a government plan to extend the capital Addis Ababa into Oromia.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, the US urged Ethiopia to release journalists and all others imprisoned for exercising their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/content\/united-states-wants-journalists-detained-in-ethiopia-set-free\/3125577.html\">rights of expression<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In an unusual criticism of its key African ally, the US warned the Ethiopian government to stop using its Anti-Terrorism law to silence members of the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urged the Ethiopia Government to release journalists and all others imprisoned for exercising their right to free expression, to refrain from using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2015\/12\/30\/statement-national-security-council-spokesperson-ned-price-arrest\">its Anti-Terrorism Proclamation<\/a> as a mechanism to silence dissent,\u201d National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said.<\/p>\n<p>Price said although the US applauded Ethiopia for releasing a group of Zone 9 bloggers earlier this year. Washington is \u201cdeeply concerned by the recent arrests of other journalists\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>According to Human Rights Watch, about 75 people were killed in clashes with Ethiopian security forces during <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/9887\">weeks of protests<\/a> against a government regional expansion plan.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters reports that several <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-ethiopia-journalists-idUSKBN0UD1TP20151230\">opposition leaders were arrested last week Friday<\/a> on suspicion of inciting the student protests.<\/p>\n<p>The US has consistently praised Ethiopia for its trailblazing economic achievements. However, Washington has also warned that a continued hardline against freedom of speech and democracy could inhibit Ethiopia\u2019s hard earned economic feats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe United States has consistently applauded Ethiopia for being a model and a voice for development in Africa, but such gains must rest on a foundation of democratic governance and respect for human rights if they are to be sustainable,\u201d Price said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to urge the Ethiopian Government to build on earlier developments by strengthening free speech protections and broadening democratic progress, and note that the continued stifling of independent voices will only inhibit such progress as well as development and economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Photo: John Iglar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States has expressed concern over the recent arrest of journalists in Ethiopia amid deadly protests over a government plan to extend the capital Addis Ababa into Oromia. On Wednesday, the US urged Ethiopia to release journalists and all<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span> <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/9911\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[44,2860,1],"tags":[149,4555,4967,4598,4596,4597,4576,2700,4577,4595],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9911"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9913,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9911\/revisions\/9913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}