After a first wave in ultranationalist circles in the Amhara region, several Oromo media figures have been arrested in recent days, despite the protest of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, a semi-public body.
The President of the Commission on Human Rights, Daniel Bekele, can only note the situation at this stage. Nineteen independent media personalities are in detention “ illegally to this day, despite his calls for their release. Nothing, he said. does not justify the violation of the recently adopted Media Law, which clearly prohibits the pre-trial detention of persons accused of committing an offense through the media “.
The first arrested were on May 20 in Bahir Dar, in the Amhara region, during the wave of repression that fell on the most radical fringe of ethnic nationalism. Then the arrests began in Addis Ababa with those Thursday, May 26 of a famous magazine director and an independent journalist. According to the media Ethiopia Insiderthey would be prosecuted for “incitement to violence” and detained in harsh conditions.
On Friday, it was the turn of the host of a YouTube channel, and the following days, it was the police of the Oromia region who made the arrests. Among the Oromo journalists detained are the famous Muaza Muhamed of Roha TV, already detained last year, then a young Oromo journalist who was finally released on conditions on Monday morning.
So far, the government has not commented.
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