Nairobi (AFP)
A freelance Ethiopian journalist working for the Reuters news agency, Kumerra Gemechu, arrested Thursday in Addis Ababa, has been detained for 14 days, without being charged immediately, the Canada-British agency announced on Monday.
Mr. Kumerra, 40, who has worked as a freelance cameraman with Reuters for a decade, was arrested at his home Thursday evening "in front of his wife and children" by "about 10 armed police," the agency said in a report. communicated.
"On Friday, in a brief hearing, where no lawyer was present, a judge ordered Kumerra's detention for an additional 14 days to give police time to investigate," Reuters said, citing the cameraman's family. .
His phone, computer, hard drives and documents were seized from his home.
"No reason was given to the family for the arrest" and "the police did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters," the agency continued.
Reuters says it was unable to determine whether Mr. Kumerra's arrest is linked to his coverage of the recent conflict in the Ethiopian region of Tigray and recalls that the Ethiopian authorities "accused Reuters and other international media (...) cover + false + and + unbalanced + "of this conflict.
The Ethiopian government launched a military operation on November 4 in this dissident region in the north of the country in order to dislodge local leaders who had defied its authority for months.
"Journalists must be able to cover news in the public interest without fear (of being subjected to) intimidation or physical harm wherever they are. We will not relax our efforts until Mr. Kumerra is released." , said agency editor Stephen J. Adler.
Reuters also claims that one of its photographers, Tiksa Negeri, was punched by two police officers in mid-December.
Allies of Ethiopia, the United States, through the voice of Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy, condemned this detention and more generally the attacks on press freedom in this country.
"Press freedom is fundamental to any democratic society. I am extremely concerned about the regular reports of intimidation of journalists in Ethiopia," Nagy tweeted.
Ethiopia, whose Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, ranks 99th out of 179 in terms of press freedom in the annual ranking of the NGO Reporters Without Borders.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its 2020 report placed Ethiopia among the jailing countries of journalists.
The NGO recalls that at least seven journalists were imprisoned during the year, most "accused of crimes against the State" and that their detention has been prolonged several times without any proof being brought.
© 2020 AFP