Ethiopian journalist held for coverage of Muslim protests

Ethiopian journalist held for coverage of Muslim protests


By CPJ; February 1, 2013

Nairobi, February 1,
2013–Ethiopian security forces have detained for two weeks without
charge the editor of a newsmagazine and accused him of incitement to terrorism,
according to local journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on
authorities to release Solomon Kebede immediately and halt their harassment of
journalists affiliated with the weekly Ye
Muslimoch Guday.

Police in Addis
Ababa, the capital, on January 17 arrested Kebede, managing editor of the
now-defunct paper Ye Muslimoch
Guday (“Muslim Affairs”), and took him to the Maekelawi
federal detention center. Solomon’s health is in poor condition and he has been
held without access to a lawyer, the journalists said. A court date has been
set for February 13.

Local journalists
told CPJ they believed the arrest was linked to Solomon’s columns that had
criticized perceived government intrusion in religious affairs. Solomon had
covered demonstrations staged last year by Muslims protesting alleged interference
in Islamic Council elections. The protests were a highly sensitive issue for
the government, which feared a hardline Islamist influence within the
predominantly Christian country, news reports said.

In an effort to
suppress coverage of the protests, authorities began to crack down on
Muslim-oriented publications. At least three papers, including Ye Muslimoch Guday, were forced
to stop publishing, and police detained at
least two reporters
of the U.S. government-funded Voice of
America. Authorities also arrested Yusuf Getachew, editor-in-chief of Ye Muslimoch Guday,in July, news reports said. Yusuf is awaiting trial in Kality Prison
on vague anti-state and terrorism charges. In June, police raided the Addis
Ababa offices of the private Horizon printing press and ordered the publisher
to stop printing Ye Muslimoch Guday.
The paper has not published since July 2012.

Local journalists
also told CPJ that they suspected police may have arrested Solomon so they
could question him on the whereabouts of two of his colleagues from Ye Muslimoch Guday. Senior Editor Akemel
Negash and Copy Editor Isaac Eshetu fled into hiding in August after police
kept their homes under surveillance for weeks, local journalists said. 

“We are troubled by
the arrest of Solomon Kebede and the government’s ongoing crackdown against the
staff of Ye Muslimoch Guday,” said
CPJ East Africa Consultant, Tom Rhodes. “We are also concerned about Solomon’s
well-being in the Maekelawi federal detention center, where numerous detainees
have reported being tortured. Authorities should release Solomon immediately.”