[Ethiopia] The Ethiopian authorities are cracking down on freedom of expression.

On 25 April 2014, six members of a collective of bloggers were arrested in Addis Ababa. The following day, 26 April, three journalists were also imprisoned. That same day, the first tweet containing the hashtag appeared on Twitter.

The collective, known as Zone Nine, was founded in 2012. Its name refers to the eight sections of Kality prison, a large prison on the outskirts of Addis Ababa where many political prisoners are held; the ninth zone represents the rest of the country. Although Ethiopia’s Constitution explicitly protects freedom of expression, the government does not tolerate dissenting opinions. An anti-terrorism law passed in 2009 is used to prosecute journalists and bloggers. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, “with 17 journalists in prison, Ethiopia is second only to Eritrea among African countries holding members of the press in prison.”

The Zone9ers have run online campaigns calling on the government to respect the Constitution and the right to demonstrate, and raising public awareness of political repression. They had written articles criticising the country’s supposed economic development. They also translated international news for local readers.

The six bloggers and three journalists are accused of having “worked with foreign organisations claiming to campaign for human rights and … [received] funding to foment public violence through social media”.

On Tuesday 17 February, they appeared in court for the 20th time.

Elections are expected to take place in about four months.

They are aged between 23 and 34 and work as civil servants, engineers or data specialists.

Anna Gueye.

#FreeZone9bloggers.