At least seven journalists have been arrested on terrorism-related charges after broadcasting a report accusing men in military uniforms of sexually assaulting a woman in 2020, an international media watchdog has said.
The East African nation—home to roughly 130 million people—has long faced criticism from human rights organisations over its treatment of critical voices and clampdown on press freedom.
Ranked 141st out of 180 countries in the 2024 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, the country is described as having “widespread self-censorship.”
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the arrests took place in late March, following the airing of a controversial programme on the Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (EBS). The report featured a woman who claimed “to have been abducted and raped by men in military uniform while she was a student in 2020,” the CPJ said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Subsequently, the woman retracted her allegations during an appearance on a state-run television station.
The founder of EBS later issued an apology, acknowledging that the station “discovered that the allegations were fabricated after the programme aired,” the CPJ noted.
Court documents reviewed by the CPJ reveal that police accuse the journalists of attempting to “incite conflict, threaten the constitutional order, and overthrow the government in coordination with ‘extremist’ groups” based in the Amhara region.
The journalists, along with the woman who made the initial claims, are being held in custody for a 14-day investigation period.
“Arresting journalists on terrorism allegations is a disproportionate response to concerns over lapses in journalistic ethics,” said CPJ Africa programme coordinator Muthoki Mumo.
Amhara, Ethiopia’s second-most populous region, has experienced a sharp rise in violence in recent years.
In April 2023, a militia group known as Fano — once allied with federal forces — launched an armed uprising against the government.
Despite the declaration of a state of emergency in Amhara from August 2023 to June 2024, the violence persisted, prompting the authorities to deploy military reinforcements in September.
Currently, vast parts of the region remain outside the control of federal forces, with fighting intensifying in recent weeks.
