Scores of journalists in Ethiopia in recent years have been wrongfully imprisoned in efforts to stifle their reporting.
Authorities detained at least 92 media workers between 2019 and 2024 — a number on the rise as the government jails reporters covering the ongoing conflict in the country’s Amhara Region, doing so based on “links to rebel forces or [by] justifying their detention with state of emergency laws,” according to a 2024 report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Journalists have been detained in unofficial prisons and military detention camps, the report reads, held in deplorable conditions “without judicial oversight, access to family or legal counsel.” According to CPJ’s prison census, Ethiopia was the second leading jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa in 2024, after Eritrea.
Reporters Without Borders, in addition, has documented several instances of journalists killed while on the job. In January 2021, for instance, Tigray TV journalist Dawit Kebede Araya and his friend were fatally shot in an incident the independent watchdog Ethiopia Human Rights Council alleged unspecified government security forces were responsible for.
I spoke with two journalists currently being held in a prison in Addis Ababa, who today fear for their lives as they await trial.
Journalists imprisoned
The current administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed began arresting journalists in large numbers during the 2020-22 Tigrayan conflict, explained Dawit Tadesse, a journalist and member of the Ethiopian Mass Media Professionals Association, who used to work as the editor-in-chief for a publication called Tefeh, whose operations the government suspended.
As Ethiopian National Defense Forces clashed with the paramilitary Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, also the country’s former ruling party, federal authorities arbitrarily detained journalists who reported on the war, said Tadesse: “Five of my friends who are journalists were arrested by the federal police. Two of them are still in prison and others have been exiled.”
During the Tigray conflict, an ethno-nationalist faction known as the Fano fought alongside the federal government in a short-lived alliance. Tensions simmered between the two after a peace deal was signed to end the war, however, and in August 2023, conflict erupted in the Amhara Region. Today, the Fano are engaged in an armed conflict with the Ethiopian National Defense Forces.
“We feared that the State’s move to disband the Fano would ignite another war and when I reported on that, I was arrested and detained,” said Tarif Andualem*, who had also criticized the government’s administration of the Amhara Region and questioned Prime Minister Ahmed’s approach to dismantling the Fano militias. His identity as an Amhara, the ethnic group native to the Amhara region, was an added reason for being targeted by state authorities, he noted.
Andualem, who has been in jail for over a year, worries about his family’s safety and that he cannot protect them. He has no faith in the judicial system. “Courts have become political and are being arm-twisted by the State,” he said, to keep journalists locked away. Even if he was freed by the courts, Andualem said he would have to flee to another country for his safety. “I cannot stay in Ethiopia for as long as Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy is still in power. I used to live in Addis Ababa but had to move away to a different town because I didn’t feel safe in the city,” he said.
Andualem’s story is not unique. Harassment, wrongful detention, exiling and silencing of journalists who dare to report on the conflict in the Amhara Region have become commonplace.
George Mengistu*, a writer and translator, was arrested 10 months ago, accused of being a Fano sympathizer and a member of their media team due to his coverage of war crimes in the conflict.
“Abiy is committing the same atrocities he did in Tigray but doesn't want the press to report on it. He has conducted several drone strikes on civilians and his army has raped thousands of women. What is happening is ethnic cleansing,” said Mengistu, who is currently awaiting trial.
Deteriorating protections
Ethiopia’s Media Proclamation legislation, passed in 2021, protects against the arbitrary detention of journalists, censorship and wrongful closure of media outlets by state authorities. Media professionals and human rights watch bodies, however, have accused the federal government of using these very techniques to stifle press freedom and clamp down on critical voices.
Mulatu Alemayehu Moges, a former journalist and associate professor of journalism and communication at Oslomet University, explained that although Prime Minister Ahmed initially eased restrictions on the press and encouraged freedom of expression after taking power in 2018 — leading to the emergence of new media platforms and improved freedom of expression — the honeymoon period didn’t last for long.
“The 2021 media law is great but in practical terms, the government disapproved it. To prove that, it appointed the board of Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) in 2022 with some of the members belonging to the ruling party,” said Alemayehu.
The decision to appoint members of the ruling party to the board violated the Media Proclamation law, which prohibits employees and members of political parties from sitting on the board. The law also demands transparency and public participation in the appointment of EMA board members. Nevertheless, the Ethiopian parliament, which is controlled by the Prime Minister’s party, approved the appointments.
Alemayehu fled Ethiopia in 2023 following harassment from federal authorities. They ransacked his home, confiscated his laptops and other work equipment, and subjected him to a nerve-wracking interrogation. He knew his time in the country had come to an end. “I wasn't at peace because I was under surveillance. Therefore, staying wasn’t an option. I knew my family wasn’t going to be safe,” he said.
This intimidation and harassment has forced journalists like Alemayehu to self-censor and in some cases flee the country as he had to. Some exiled journalists still receive threats from federal authorities, he added. One of Alemayehu’s journalist colleagues received intimidating text messages from Ethiopian authorities who threatened to abduct his family if he continued to speak out about what is happening in the country or criticize the government.
“Without democratic governance, there’s no hope for a better media atmosphere in the near future unless the government shifts its way of administration,” said Tadesse. “Ethiopia has become a stage for a one-man show and Abiy is the playmaker. Only he can change this.”
*Interview subjects preferred not to disclose their real names.
This reporting was supported by a grant from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
Photo via Pexels by Kelly.
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