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Ethiopian police detain five
editors for alleged defamation


Addis Ababa / AFP
07/08/2005

 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 "this is a systematical way of harassing 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.
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.