(CNN) — A Voice of America reporter detained while trying to cover a protest by Muslims has been freed, an Ethiopian government minister said Saturday.
Peter Heinlein is out of prison and does not face charges, Berket Simon, Minister of Government Communications, said.
In a phone interview, Heinlein confirmed to CNN that he was no longer being detained.
“I am free from jail,” he said, sounding shaken. “I got out of jail.”
Asked about his condition, he said: “The short answer is, yeah, I’m okay.”
In an online story, Voice of America quoted witnesses as saying that Heinlein was detained while attempting to interview Muslim protesters after Friday prayers in the East African nation’s capital, Addis Ababa.
In a formal statement from its headquarters in Washington, VOA said, “The safety and welfare of our reporters is our utmost concern and we are working to gather more information about Mr. Heinlein’s status.”
VOA said it had asked the U.S. Department of State for more information and was urging “Ethiopian authorities to allow Mr. Heinlein to carry out his journalistic responsibilities without interference.”
VOA quotes Tom Rhodes, East Africa spokesman for the Committee to Protect Journalists as saying he understood that Heinlein was accused of acting “unprofessionally and illegally.”
Rhodes told VOA a government spokesman had accused Heinlein, who is married to a Danish diplomat, of improperly using a diplomatic vehicle and refusing to show media accreditation.
Heinlein and Simegnish were detained while covering a demonstration of Muslims protesting alleged government interference in religious affairs, Janin said. They were being held late today at Maekelawi federal detention center in the capital, Addis Ababa, local journalists said.
In recent weeks, members of Ethiopia’s estimated 30 million Muslims have been staging protests on Fridays in Addis Ababa to oppose government policies they say interfere with religious affairs, according to news reports. The protests are a highly sensitive issue for the government, which fears a hardline Islamist influence within the country, according to wire reports.
Shimeles Kemal, a spokesman for the Ethiopian government, said that Heinlein was being held because he was allegedly using a diplomatic car and refused to show his press identification, local journalists told CPJ. No official charges have been filed, the journalists said.
“Peter Heinlein is a veteran reporter with many years’ experience in the profession,” said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “We call for the immediate release of Heinlein and Simegnish Yekoye.”
VOA’s Amharic-language service broadcasts are sometimes jammed and its website periodically blocked in Ethiopia, according to CPJ research. In recent years, the Ethiopian government has used intimidation, imprisonment, and expulsions to silence independent reporting of VOA reporters.
