Ethiopia: Amend Draft Law
Proposed Counterterrorism Legislation Violates Human Rights
30 June, 2009 | Human Rights Watch
(Nairobi) - Ethiopia's draft counterterrorism law could punish political
speech and peaceful protest as terrorist acts and encourage unfair trials
if enacted, Human Rights Watch said today. The government and
members of parliament should amend the draft law, which may
otherwise be imminently passed as-is by parliament, to meet
international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch's detailed analysis of the draft Anti-Terrorism
Proclamation concludes that the bill violates fundamental freedoms of
speech and peaceful assembly, and strips defendants of important due-
process protections. As drafted, the law could provide a new and potent
tool for suppressing political opposition and independent criticism of
government policy, Human Rights Watch said.
The measure ignores well-established standards embedded in both
international law and Ethiopia's own law, Human Rights Watch said.
The draft law's overly broad definition of terrorist acts could be used to
prosecute peaceful political protesters and would in some circumstances
impose lengthy prison terms and even the death penalty as a punishment
for damaging property or disrupting public services.
Even those who merely express support for a peaceful political protest
could be deemed terrorists under the law, as well as any member of the
group who engaged in the protest. The law would even eliminate
protections against the use of confessions obtained after torture.
Among the draft counterterrorism law's most worrying
provisions are:
Human Rights Watch urged the Ethiopian government to seek input
from human rights experts and to ensure that civil society and the public
are given a fair opportunity to review and comment on any draft
counterterrorism legislation.
"If the government really wants to produce a solid piece of legislation
that can help combat terrorism, then it should immediately seek input
from civil society and international experts, and amend the law's worst
provisions," Mariner said.
Several bombings and grenade attacks in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, and
elsewhere have claimed Ethiopian civilian lives over the years, and the
Ethiopian government has alleged that these attacks were carried out by
armed opposition groups.
Most recently, in October 2008, the Ethiopian trade mission in Hargeisa,
Somaliland, was one of the targets of multiple suicide bombings that
killed at least 20 people; the attacks were blamed on al-Shabaab, a
Somali armed group with alleged links to al-Qaeda.
Although Ethiopia has legitimate security concerns over terrorism,
Human Rights Watch said that Ethiopia's increasing repression of
political opposition and independent civil society since the controversial
2005 elections, when scores of individuals protesting the election results
were killed and injured by security forces, raises special concerns.
Since 2005, government efforts to suppress criticism have increased,
and Ethiopian officials consistently deny well-documented reports of
systematic killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture by
members of the military and police forces in various regions of the
country.
Proposed Counterterrorism Legislation Violates Human Rights
30 June, 2009 | Human Rights Watch
(Nairobi) - Ethiopia's draft counterterrorism law could punish political
speech and peaceful protest as terrorist acts and encourage unfair trials
if enacted, Human Rights Watch said today. The government and
members of parliament should amend the draft law, which may
otherwise be imminently passed as-is by parliament, to meet
international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch's detailed analysis of the draft Anti-Terrorism
Proclamation concludes that the bill violates fundamental freedoms of
speech and peaceful assembly, and strips defendants of important due-
process protections. As drafted, the law could provide a new and potent
tool for suppressing political opposition and independent criticism of
government policy, Human Rights Watch said.
- "Ethiopia may well need a fair
and effective law to combat
terrorism, but this is not it,"
said Joanne Mariner,
Terrorism and
Counterterrorism Program
director at Human Rights
Watch. "As drafted, this law
could encourage serious
abuses against political
protesters and provide legal
The measure ignores well-established standards embedded in both
international law and Ethiopia's own law, Human Rights Watch said.
The draft law's overly broad definition of terrorist acts could be used to
prosecute peaceful political protesters and would in some circumstances
impose lengthy prison terms and even the death penalty as a punishment
for damaging property or disrupting public services.
Even those who merely express support for a peaceful political protest
could be deemed terrorists under the law, as well as any member of the
group who engaged in the protest. The law would even eliminate
protections against the use of confessions obtained after torture.
Among the draft counterterrorism law's most worrying
provisions are:
- •The definition of terrorist acts, which could be used to
prosecute a very wide range of conduct - far beyond the limits
of what can reasonably be considered terrorist activity. Besides
violent acts and kidnapping, an act that "causes serious damage
to property" or "disruption or interference of a public service"
may be deemed terrorist under the law if carried out for a
specified purpose. This definition is so broad that a nonviolent
political protest that disrupts traffic might be labeled a "terrorist
act." As the UN special rapporteur on human rights and
counterterrorism has explained, the concept of terrorism should
be limited to acts committed with the intention of causing death
or serious bodily injury, or the taking of hostages, and not
property crimes.
•The expansion of police powers to search, arrest, and restrict
movement of individuals and destroy property without judicial
oversight, in many cases based solely on the belief that terrorist
activity "will be" committed. The law also provides for "terrorist
suspects" to be held for up to four months without charge.
•The approval of using hearsay or "indirect evidences" in court
without any limitation. Official intelligence reports would also be
admissible, even if they do not disclose their source or how their
information was gathered. By making intelligence reports
admissible in this way, the law effectively would allow evidence
obtained under torture - if defense counsel could not ascertain
the methods by which intelligence was collected, they would not
be able to show that it was collected in an abusive way.
•The criminalization of speech "encouraging," "advancing," or "in
support" of terrorist acts even if the speech is not directly
inciting acts of terrorism. The law would even criminalize
providing "moral support" to someone who is alleged to have
engaged in a terrorist act. Coupled with the extremely broad
definition of terrorist acts, this could result in a conviction for
encouraging or giving moral support to participants in a
nonviolent political protest that disrupts traffic or causes minor
property damage.
•The approval of imposing the death penalty for certain offenses
that cannot be considered among the "most serious crimes," as
required by international law. Human Rights Watch opposes the
death penalty in all circumstances because it is inherently cruel
and irrevocable.
Human Rights Watch urged the Ethiopian government to seek input
from human rights experts and to ensure that civil society and the public
are given a fair opportunity to review and comment on any draft
counterterrorism legislation.
"If the government really wants to produce a solid piece of legislation
that can help combat terrorism, then it should immediately seek input
from civil society and international experts, and amend the law's worst
provisions," Mariner said.
Several bombings and grenade attacks in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, and
elsewhere have claimed Ethiopian civilian lives over the years, and the
Ethiopian government has alleged that these attacks were carried out by
armed opposition groups.
Most recently, in October 2008, the Ethiopian trade mission in Hargeisa,
Somaliland, was one of the targets of multiple suicide bombings that
killed at least 20 people; the attacks were blamed on al-Shabaab, a
Somali armed group with alleged links to al-Qaeda.
Although Ethiopia has legitimate security concerns over terrorism,
Human Rights Watch said that Ethiopia's increasing repression of
political opposition and independent civil society since the controversial
2005 elections, when scores of individuals protesting the election results
were killed and injured by security forces, raises special concerns.
Since 2005, government efforts to suppress criticism have increased,
and Ethiopian officials consistently deny well-documented reports of
systematic killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture by
members of the military and police forces in various regions of the
country.
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| A row over human rights Feb.5 ( Economist ) - INDEPENDENT voices in Ethiopia are finding it ever harder to be heard. Suffocated by an irascible government, the country's newspapers are now the least... More |
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