Acting Deputy Spokesperson Jeff Rathke Highlights Two Imperiled Reporter...

Ethiopia is hacking US journalists with commercial spyware

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Ethiopia's government is among the most oppressive political regimes on the African continent, only trailing Eritrea in its population of incarcerated journalists. And with the country's recent implementation of off-the-shelf spyware from Italian security firm Hacking Team, Ethiopia's leaders can--and have been--expanding their despotic reach far overseas.

Per a report from Citizen Lab, published February 12th, numerous journalists working for the Ethiopian Satellite Television Service (ESAT), a network of independent Ethiopian expat journalists operating out of Alexandria, Virginia were targeted by a member of Ethiopia's internal information security apparatus: the Information Network Security Agency (INSA). Harassment from government officials is a regular occurrence for dissenting journalists in Ethiopia but this latest attack marks the second time that journalists outside of the East African nation have been targeted by the INSA.

What's more, both attacks appears to have been carried out using Hacking Team's Remote Control System (RCS) spyware. According to the Hacking Team product website, this software "is a solution designed to evade encryption by means of an agent directly installed on the device to monitor. Evidence collection on monitored devices is stealth and transmission of collected data from the device to the RCS server is encrypted and untraceable."

Using RCS, the INSA could, in theory, be used to spy on the activities of ESAT journalistsand lead authorities back to the journalist's local sources. The target's computer would of course first have to be infected with the RCS spyware. In this case, it came in the form of a bogus Word attachment sent to Managing Director of ESAT, Neamin Zeleke, in December of last year. Most troubling is that this sort of abuse should not even be possible using RCS as Hacking Team's Customer Policy clearly states that:

We monitor the international geopolitical situation and we review potential customers before a sale to determine whether or not there is objective evidence or credible concerns that Hacking Team technology provided to the customer will be used to facilitate human rights violations.

However, Citizen Lab's report suggests that not only did Hacking Team not suspend its service to Ethiopia's government following a similar attack back in 2013, but the Italian firm may have even provided the INSA with software updates in the year since--despite published accusations against the government agency by targeted journalists and the government's long and storied history of political repression. That's a clear violation of the company's internal policing policy.

Whether this latest attack against US-based journalists leads to any meaningful changes in the company's policy remains to be seen--a front page expose in the Washington Postlast year certainly wasn't able to.

[Image credit: stereotyp-0815/Flickr]

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IS group ‘will not be defeated through academics and the establishment’

Ethiopia's Media War, on Al Jazeera, The Stream

Ethiopia's media war

Ethiopian anti-terrorism laws are forcing journalists into exile and prison, a push the government says will secure the nation.

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Members of Ethiopia's jailed Zone 9 bloggers who are on trial for terrorism and treason. (FACEBOOK.COM/ZONE9ERS)

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On Tuesday, February 17 at 19:30 GMT: 

Ethiopia's jailed Zone 9 bloggers are on trial this week for terrorism and treason, charges facing more than two dozen journalists, bloggers and publishers. To avoid arrest, 30 journalists fled the country in the past year. The government says they’re criminals, destabilising Ethiopia's fragile democracy in the name of “press freedom.” Rights groups say they’re victims of repression. Join us at 1930GMT.

Read more: 

Ethiopia’s stifled press - The Washington Post

Could Kenya learn from Ethiopia's anti-terror strategy? - Voice of America

What do you think?  How much dissent should Ethiopia allow its media to exercise? Record a 30-second video comment or leave your thoughts in the comments below. 

Advocates Petition UN to Intervene on Jailed Ethiopian Bloggers’ Behalf

Image by Hugh D'Andrade, remixed by Hisham Almiraat, used with permission.

Last April, nine writers were arrested and imprisoned in association with Ethiopia's Zone 9 blogging collective. Eleven weeks later, they were charged under the nation's Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. Since their arrest, Soleyana Gebremicheal and Endalk Chala, two members of the collective who now live in the United States, have advocated tirelessly for their colleagues’ release. Global Voices is honored to publish this original contribution by Soleyana and her colleague, Patrick Griffith, who are now petitioning the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to intervene on the bloggers’ behalf.

By Soleyana S. Gebremicheal and Patrick Griffith 

Despite early, high-level condemnation of the arrests of independent journalists and bloggers in Ethiopia nine months ago, international attention has waned as the pre-trial proceedings have dragged-on. The government’s continued detention of three independent journalists and six members of the Zone 9 blogging collective is not only an outrageous attack on the press – it is also illegal and unconscionable.

After its founding in May 2012, the Zone 9 blog received widespread attention from Ethiopian activists and academics who used the site to promote political rights enshrined under both international and Ethiopian law. For a time, they managed to operate in an increasingly restrictive media environment. When access to the site was blocked inside the country, members circulated articles through social media. When authorities summoned the contributors for questioning and accused them of threatening national security in 2013, the group temporarily stopped writing about political issues. But when the activists announced that they would revive the site and focus on Ethiopia’s upcoming national elections scheduled for May 2015, the government response was swift – within days, six members of Zone 9 and three independent journalists who knew them socially were behind bars. 

Eventually, the government charged all nine detainees with terrorism and treason.

The use of overly broad national security laws to silence peaceful activists may seem like a surprising overreaction to online activism, but in Ethiopia, politicized prosecutions have become commonplace. Since the government passed the widely-criticized 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, prosecutors have cast an ever-widening net in an attempt to silence any kind of dissent. The government has applied the Proclamation to detain critical journalists, opposition activists, and religious protesters – apparently unconcerned that misusing such laws threatens to seriously undermine its credibility with security allies in a region with very real terror threats. 

The condemnation of such tactics has been nearly universal. The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and political leaders – including US Secretary of State John Kerry – have all called for an end to the imprisonment of peaceful writers and activists on terrorism charges. In the case of the imprisoned Ethiopian publisher Eskinder Nega, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention specifically found that the government violated international law when it sentenced him to 18 years in prison under the 2009 Anti-Terror Proclamation. Despite such calls, however, the prosecutions have continued.

It has now been nine months since Ethiopian authorities arrested the Zone 9 bloggers and their journalist friends. During the first three months, they were held at the notorious Maekelawi police station in Addis Ababa, where reports indicate that torture is rampant. In fact, a complaint prepared by the group for the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission indicates that authorities severely mistreated some detainees while interrogating them about their criticism of the government and their contacts with international human rights organizations. Some were beaten, gagged, deprived of food and sleep, subjected to cold temperatures, and threatened not to report the mistreatment. The women were insulted during questioning and faced harassment and intimidation based on their gender. All of them were forced to sign false confessions.

Although the government has held 16 preliminary hearings, the trial has yet to begin. If past cases are any indication, however, the outcome has already been determined. That is why the Ethiopian Human Rights Project and Freedom Now have filed a petition with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which shows that the continued imprisonment of these peaceful activists violates international law. The work of these activists and journalists advocating for basic rights is clearly protected under international law and the treaties that the Ethiopian government has ratified, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. As such, the government's imprisonment of these individuals on spurious terror charges is arbitrary and illegal. 

Soleyana S. Gebremicheal heads the Ethiopian Human Rights Project and is a member of the Zone9 collective. Patrick Griffith is an attorney with the legal advocacy organization Freedom Now.

Ethiopia to try journalists and bloggers under terrorism law

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  By Ludovica Iaccino
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The six bloggers are part of Zone 9, an Ethiopian blog that focus human rights, social justice and corruptionFacebook / Zone9

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The Ethiopian Federal High Court has announced it will try six bloggers and three independent journalists charged with terrorism. 

The defendants were arrested in April 2014 and are accused of plotting with the Ginbot 7, a political party classified as a terrorist organisation in Ethiopia.

The six bloggers are part of Zone 9, a blog that focus on human rights, social justice and corruption. 

The arrest prompted netizens to voice their dissent on social media under the hashtag#Freezone9bloggers. 

This is not the first time that the country has used its anti-terrorism law to target media and apply censorship, prompting the outrage of NGOs and other governments. 

Ethiopia implemented anti-terrorism legislation in 2009. The law was deemed "deeply flawed" by Human Rights Watch.

Many associations, including the UN, have criticised Ethiopia for using its anti-terrorism law to curb freedom of expression and target the media. 

Last September, the UN issued a statement urging the Ethiopian government to stop misusing the law, used by leaders to target journalists who are then imprisoned, sometimes tortured and are not guaranteed a fair trial. 

Following the High Court announcement, made on 28 January, the US also expressed concern over the repeated misuse of the anti-terrorism law. 

"The [court's] decision undermines a free and open media environment—critical elements for credible and democratic elections, which Ethiopia will hold in May 2015", the statement said. 

"The use of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation in previous cases against journalists, activists, and opposition political figures raises serious questions about the implementation of the law and about the sanctity of Ethiopians' constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of the press and freedom of expression."