Ethiopian security forces have killed more than 400 protesters and others, and arrested tens of thousands more during widespread protests in the Oromia region since November 2015, Human Rights Watch said in a report.
The group also called on the “Ethiopian government should urgently support a credible, independent investigation into the killings, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses.”
Last week, the government in Ethiopia approved, much to the outcry of the rights activists, a new Computer Crime Proclamation, which, according to the government, is designed to protect the state and citizens from crimes committed using computers. It is not clear if governments, especially the US and individual EU member states, which are Ethiopia’s allies, could join those who are voicing their concerns about this new bill and its implications to freedom of expression.
Kalkidan Yibeltal
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, (EHRC), a government body which was investigating killings, maiming, arrests and forced disappearances of protesters in Oromia regional state following a five month region wide civil resistance, declared that security measures taken against protesters were “proportional.”
