Wave of arrests targeting journalists shakes Ethiopia, warns NGO Human

Rights Watch (HRW) in a report published on September 22, 2025. Since the beginning of the year, the

cases of repression against independent media are increasing, with an intensification

worrying situation observed in recent months. In August 2025 alone, six journalists were arrested.

According to HRW, Ethiopian security forces are carrying out these arbitrary arrests of

media professionals, often without clear justification and sometimes by retaining them in

unknown locations. "Some journalists were arrested incommunicado. We were unaware

completely where they were,” says Laeticia Bader, deputy director of the division

Africa at HRW.

On September 3, in Addis Ababa, three journalists from the private radio station Sheger FM 102.1, Tigist

Zerihun, Mintamir Tsegaw and Eshete Assefa, were arrested by the police shortly after the

broadcast of a report on a strike in the public health sector. Although the radio

withdrew the program on the orders of the Ethiopian Media Authority, the journalists were

arrested, despite everything. The regulatory body had accused the content of bias and incitement

to violence.

For Human Rights Watch, these arrests are part of a growing desire to

to silence critical voices, in the run-up to the general elections scheduled for 2026.

The NGO calls on the Ethiopian authorities to immediately stop the harassment

against independent journalists and to release all those detained for having

exercised their right to freedom of expression.

As Ethiopia heads toward a crucial election in 2026, this climate of repression raises

serious concerns about the state of press freedom and respect for fundamental rights

in the country.