"No one appears safe from arbitrary arrest and detention": Rights group criticizes Ethiopia’s deepening crackdown on dissent
"No one appears safe from arbitrary arrest and detention": Rights group criticizes Ethiopia’s deepening crackdown on dissent
In February, plainclothes security officers detained Batte Urgessa, a spokesperson for the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an opposition political party, and French journalist Antoine Galindo, as they met for an interview in a hotel in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
In February, Ethiopia’s federal parliament extended the state of emergency in Amhara region, which had been in place since August and affords the government sweeping powers. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that four of the eight journalists in detention as of early 2024 were detained under these emergency powers.
These latest arrests demonstrate that in Ethiopia today, no one is safe from arbitrary arrest and detention. Ethiopia’s long-time partners should condemn the spate of wrongful detentions and challenge the government’s growing intolerance of peaceful dissent.