Clampdown Stifles Independent Voices Ahead of Anticipated National Elections
September 22, 2025
News Release
(Nairobi) – Ethiopian security forces have arbitrarily arrested several journalists and media professionals since August 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should end their harassment of independent journalists and immediately release all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and opinion.
“The Ethiopian authorities’ renewed efforts to muzzle independent reporting are all about preventing public scrutiny of the government,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should stop targeting journalists and media workers and immediately release those unjustly detained for their work.”
Most recently, on September 3, federal police and plainclothes security officers in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, arrested Tigist Zerihun, Mintamir Tsegaw, and Eshete Assefa, who work for Sheger FM 102.1, a private radio station. The arrests followed their August 29 broadcast of a report on Ethiopian health care workers.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/22/eth ... ia-workers