Ethiopian
police
detain
editor,
impound
magazine
over pop
icon
story
New
York,
May 6,
2008 (CPJ)
— Police
in the
Ethiopian
capital,
Addis
Ababa,
have
detained
a
journalist
and
three
support
staffers
of a
private
entertainment
magazine
since
May 2.
Local
journalists
say the
detentions
are
related
to a
cover
story
about
the
high-profile
trial of
Ethiopia’s
most
popular
pop
singer,
Tewodros
Kassahun.
Deputy
Editor
and
owner
Alemayehu
Mahtemework
and the
three
media
workers
from the
monthly
Enku
remained
in
police
custody
today
without
charges
and were
expected
to be
taken to
court on
Tuesday,
according
to the
same
sources.
Local
journalists
also
reported
that
Editor-in-Chief
Fekadu
Mahtemework
went
into
hiding
after
being
summoned
for
questioning
on
Saturday.
Mahtemework
and the
others
were
picked
up early
Friday
evening
as they
carried
10,000
copies
of the
current
edition
from the
printer
to their
offices.
The
police
impounded
all the
copies
of the
paper,
allegedly
after
receiving
a tip
from an
informant
at the
printer
that the
cover
story
could
lead to
“incitement,”
according
to local
journalists.
The
story
focused
on the
trial of
jailed
pop
music
icon and
government
critic
Kassahun,
better
known as
Teddy
Afro,
and
included
interviews
with his
lawyer
and
fans.
“The
seizure
of Enku
and the
arrests
of its
staffers
is a
continuation
of the
Ethiopian
government’s
ongoing
efforts
to
stifle
the
private
press
from
freely
reporting
on
important
public
issues,”
said
CPJ’s
executive
director
Joel
Simon.
“We call
on the
Ethiopian
authorities
to
abandon
these
crude
tactics
of
intimidation
and
release
our
colleagues
immediately.
We also
condemn
this
flagrant
act of
censorship
and ask
that the
authorities
return
the
confiscated
copies
of the
magazine.”
Speaking
to CPJ
via
telephone
today,
Ethiopian
Information
Ministry
spokesman
Zemedkun
Tekle
claimed
no
knowledge
of the
matter,
but
declared
that the
police
had the
right to
intervene
if there
are
“problems”
with any
content.
He
referred
inquiries
to the
police.
CPJ’s
calls to
Ethiopian
federal
police
were not
immediately
returned.
Kassahun
was
arrested
and
charged
last
month in
connection
with a
hit-and-run
incident
in 2006,
according
to news
reports.
Kassahun’s
popular
song,
“Jah
Yasteseryal,”
became a
popular
anthem
of
anti-government
protesters
during
unrest
following
the
disputed
2005
parliamentary
elections,
according
to local
sources.
Despite
releasing
15
Ethiopian
journalists
who were
jailed
on
trumped-up
anti-state
charges
last
year in
connection
with a
brutal
2005
media
crackdown,
Ethiopian
authorities
have not
relented
in their
long-standing
pattern
of
repression
of
independent
media
through
intimidation,
arrests,
criminal
prosecutions,
and
legal
and
administrative
restraints,
CPJ
research
has
found.
In
February,
police
detained
three
journalists
from
Islamic
newspapers
for two
weeks
and
confiscated
equipment
and
filed
criminal
defamation
charges
in
connection
with a
public
petition
critical
of the
education
minister.
Meanwhile,
three
independent
journalists
acquitted
and set
free
last
year
have
been
blocked
from
launching
new
newspapers,
and two
Eritrean
journalists,
arrested
in 2006,
continue
to be
held
incommunicado
in
Ethiopia.
-------------
Committee
to
Protect
Journalists
