The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ethiopian authorities to immediately release five journalists who have been in detention for three years awaiting trial, instead of pressuring them to admit to, and apologise for, taking part in a deadly insurgency in exchange for their freedom.
Gobeze Sisay, Meskerem Abera, Genet Asmamaw, Dawit Begashaw, and Abay Zewdu have refused to write such apology letters, which they regard as “self-incriminating,” their lawyer, Solomon Gezahagn, told CPJ. The five were detained in 2023 on terrorism charges in connection with their reporting on unrest in the Amhara region.
Solomon said prison officials had threatened his clients and separated them from other prisoners to compel them to write their own versions of a draft document shared by the government, in addition to promising to stop working as journalists.
“After keeping these five journalists behind bars for years and delaying their trials, Ethiopian authorities are now trying to blackmail them into confessing to crimes that they have already denied in court,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities must stop humiliating and manipulating Gobeze Sisay, Meskerem Abera, Genet Asmamaw, Dawit Begashaw, and Abay Zewdu, withdraw the charges against them, release them, and ensure that they are free to continue their journalism.”
