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| Freedom of Press Mus be Respected! |
On April 26th, an official from the Ethiopian attorney general’s office took to state media to lament what he called a lack of police action in clamping down on disinformation and hate speech.
A number of journalists in the country saw that as a bad omen.
“When I heard the call, I knew a crackdown on the press was imminent,” an Addis Ababa-based journalist told Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted. “I had already heard rumours that the government was keen on reining in the press, especially producers of digital content. The only question now was how many of us would be jailed.”
That prediction has proven to be accurate.
By April 29th, the state-run Ethiopian Media Authority announced that it had filed criminal cases against at least 25 media outlets.
Then, during the course of this month, Ethiopian police pounced on local newsrooms, detaining 19 people, including journalists, magazine editors and talk show hosts.
“We reiterate that Ethiopia’s media law clearly prohibits pre-trial detention for any alleged offence committed through media,” said Daniel Bekele, head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, a public institution. “All detained media personnel should be released.”
In addition, The Economist correspondent Tom Gardner was expelled from the country on May 13th.
Twenty-two media employees have been arrested across Ethiopia this year alone.
“CPJ has documented a drastic decline in press freedom in Ethiopia over the last three years,” said Angela Quintal, head of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) Africa programme. “This decline has accelerated during the ongoing civil war. Numerous journalists have been arrested and detained without trial or for prolonged pre-charge periods.”
The pressure has made Ethiopian journalists contemplate quitting their jobs or fleeing to neighbouring countries. Some have toned down their reporting and are electing to write stories without bylines.
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