Nairobi — The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Ethiopian police raids on the privately owned news outlet Addis Standard's office and an employee's home, their confiscation of electronic devices, and detention of three managers for several hours.
"The Addis Standard raids are the latest moves in the Ethiopian government's campaign to silence independent media. The confiscation of the outlet's equipment raises grave concerns about potential misuse of sensitive data," said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. "Authorities should drop their investigations into Addis Standard and return its equipment."
Six plainclothes officers, who identified themselves as police, raided the Addis Standard office on April 17 and took a newsroom manager and HR manager to the capital's Federal Police Crime Investigation Unit for interrogation, according to the outlet's publisher and its founder Tsedale Lemma, who spoke to CPJ.
The police, who said they had warrants but did not produce copies, told staff that they were under investigation on suspicion of preparing to produce a documentary that might incite violence, Tsedale said, adding that the allegation was untrue and outlet does not have the capacity to make documentaries.
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Earlier that morning, police raided the home of an Addis Standard IT manager, who was assaulted in front of family members and taken to a police station in the capital's Woreda 13, Lemi Kura Subcity, Tsedale said. All three employees were released later that day, without charges, she said.
Police confiscated laptops, computers, cell phones, data storage devices, and external processing units, for which they demanded and were given passwords, and told staff not to speak publicly about the raids, Tsedale said.
Addis Standard's publisher, JAKENN Publishing PLC, expressed concern about how the seized devices might be used in custody. "We cannot guarantee the integrity of any messages or emails sent from the compromised devices," it said.
On April 22, the police said the devices might be released the following week, Tsedale said.
Federal police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi told CPJ via messaging app that he could not answer queries on a matter "currently pending in court." Jeylan did not answer CPJ's follow-up calls or a message requesting clarification on the specific court proceedings, including the charges or when the police referred the matter to court. Tsedale told CPJ that an Addis Standard staffer and the outlet's legal counsel visited the federal police earlier Tuesday and were not informed of any pending court proceedings.
CPJ did not receive any response to its requests for comment via emails to the justice ministry or via calls to government spokesperson Legesse Tulu.
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