Ethiopian lawmakers approved a bill to replace notorious 2009 counter-terror legislation that rights groups said the authorities used to suppress dissent and freedoms.
The Proclamation to Provide for the Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism bill “fills the gaps in the previous law” by giving suspects access to the full legal system including regional courts, according to a record of parliamentary proceedings.
Searches without an order from the police chief will be illegal under the new rules, which also introduce a witness-protection program and require suspects to be presented in court within 48 hours of arrest.
The amendments are part of a raft of reforms that the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is instituting. The Nobel Prize winner has freed political prisoners, welcomed opposition, promised democratic elections this year and ended two decades of animosity with neighboring Eritrea.
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