Ethiopian police detain five editors for alleged defamation

ADDIS ABABA, July 1 (AFP) — Ethiopian police this week detained five editors for several hours for their coverage of post-election violence earlier this month that left dozens dead, the country’s media watchdog said.

Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJ) said the editors from three Amharic-language newspapers were arrested and questioned on Thursday for coverage that allegedly defamed the country’s police force.

Police confirmed the arrests.

“They have been accused of not giving a nice image of the police and the army and the Orthodox church,” EFJ chief Kifle Mulat said, adding that “his is a systematical way of harrassing journalists.”

One editor was questioned for running an article that blamed the Ethiopian Orthodox church for failing to criticise the government for the June 8 violent crackdown on demonstrators in the capital.

Another editor was questioned for publishing a picture that showed police brutally arresting youths in the same demo.

Three editors of Amharic-language newspapers were taken to court and released pending a decision by prosecutors whether to charge them, while two others were freed after recording police statements, the EFJ said.

On Tuesday, police arrested four editors of weekly papers for allegedly defaming the military.

They were arrested after reporting that eight Ethiopian airforce pilots, who were on a training program in Belarus, had asked for political asylum there following deadly election-related clashes in Ethiopia earlier this month.

They were released on bail pending a decision to charge them with defamation on a defense ministry complaint.