Ethiopia: Editor survives assassination attempt

Tesfa-alem Tekle

November 3, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — Owner and Editor-in-chief of the well known big-circulation weekly Reporter newspaper, Amare Aregawi was hospitalized after he was brutally attacked in a broad-day light by at least three unidentified individuals late on Friday.

Eye witness told Sudan Tribune that Amare was attacked at about 04:30 pm (local time), on the back of the head while returning back from a parent-teacher meeting at his son’s school and abandoned on the ground unconscious and severely bleeding until he was later recognized by a teacher and a guard of Andnet international school, a school where his son goes to.

Amare was later rushed to Hayat hospital and is being treated for head injuries and Doctors are currently examining his condition closely for any signs of “acute or sub-acute hematoma” He could possibly face.

Two suspects, a taxi driver believed to have been waiting for a run away and another individual suspected of direct connection with the crime are taken to custody.

Intention for the attack is not yet clearly known but police said that a firm investigation is underway to hunt down assailants behind the attack.

Recently Amare’s consistent objection to the newly endorsed press law has caught him the attention of government and media stake holders.

According to Reporters Without Borders, on 22 August the editor, was arrested in Addis Ababa and was then illegally transferred to a prison in Gondar, 750 km north of the capital, in connection with a libel case brought by the Gondar-based Dashen brewery.

(ST)