The arrest of 17 prominent Muslims for exercising their basic rights to free speech is just the latest misuse of Ethiopia's laws, and notably its anti-terrorism law. All those held should be immediately released unless the government can promptly produce credible evidence of unlawful activity.

Ethiopia [JURIST news archive] has drawn criticism from the international community regarding its recent human rights record. Last month UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] expressed concern that Ethiopia is intimidating journalists [JURIST report]. Earlier in July, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] the imprisonment of 20 activists in Ethiopia under the nation's anti-terrorism law. In June, the Ethiopian Federal High Court [official website, in Amharic] convicted [JURIST report] 24 journalists, political opposition leaders and others under the anti-terrorism law. In January, the Ethiopian court convicted [JURIST report] three journalists, a political opposition leader and a politician's assistant for conspiring to commit acts of terrorism in violation of the controversial law. Human rights groups such as HRW have criticized the conviction and called the government to drop all charges. In December HRW stated [JURIST report] that the controversial law is "fundamentally flawed and being used to repress legitimate reporting." The statement came after two Swedish journalists were convicted [Bloomberg report] of supporting terrorism.