Thursday, April 4, 2013

Ethiopia jails a student for a Facebook post


Ethiopian authorities have last Thursday arrested a University student for a ”corruption critical Facebook post”, the Amharic Service of Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported today (April 1, 2013). 
Manyazewal Eshetu, 21, a first year Information Technology student in Addis Abeba, was last Thursday captured  by police from Campus and is now imprisoned in Arba Minch, South Ethiopia , the Radio reported.
The suspect’s guardian, Daniel Shibeshi said ” I was told the reason for his arrest was  his Facebook post that allegedly stated that there is a corruption in Arba Minch City Administration, Arba Minch University and in Gamo Gofa Town.”
Daniel also said that he spoke to Dr. Tarekgne, the President of Arba Minch University and was told that the reason for the student’s arrest was same.
The guardian said in his discussion with the University’s President, the student’s popularity and his great literary skills often appearing on State Tv, ETV was also raised.
Commander Taye Cherga, Head of the Gamo Gofa Police Station, told the Radio reporter in Ethiopia that the student was arrested for posting an “imbalanced, defamatory and unconfirmed information that dishonoured individuals by naming them “thieves”.
“In addition to that, his arrest is for posting articles that defamed the University and the City Administrators on Facebook” the Commander added.
The Commander also stated that the suspect had appeared in Court on Friday and Police sought additional time for further investigation. The student is still imprisoned.
The Radio reporter said that he was not able to find the articles on the student’s Facebook page.
sourse: Deutsche Welle| April 3, 2013

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