Elias Kifle

Elias Kifle (Amharic: ኤልያስ ክፍሌ) is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Washington D.C.-based Ethiopian Review, an English/Amharic language Ethiopian news and opinion journal that was launched in January 1991.

Kifle is known as one of the most vocal critics of the current government in Ethiopia. Kifle is also a member of Tegbar and has organized rallies and meetings around the world to protest the policies of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front.

In 2007, Kifle, along with a few other Ethiopian journal editors, has been charged in absentia[1] of treason by Ethiopia's regime and sentenced to life in prison.[2][3] According to government sources, an extradition request has been filed with the U.S. Government.

In December 2010 Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi initiated a claim in the English High Court against Elias Kifle claiming damages for libel. In July 2011 Kifle, who ignored the lawsuit claiming that it is a case of libel tourism, was ordered to pay £175,000 in damages for publishing 'false' information.[4]

Ethiopian Review is blocked by the government in Ethiopia from being accessed online in Ethiopia.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Amnesty International Resource Centre Reports". Amnesty International.
  2. ↑ "Attacks on the Press 2006: Ethiopia". Cpj.org. 2007-02-05. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  3. 1 2 "U.S. Department of States Human Rights report on Ethiopia 2006". US Department of State. 2007-03-06. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  4. ↑ "Ethiopian billionaire wins libel action in UK". BBC News. 2011-07-29.

External links

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