The Ethiopian Police have raided the offices of Addis Standard, a private news outlet, and the residence of one of its employees, further sparking tensions and threats against press freedom. According to the Ethiopian authorities, the action was carried out after it acted on a tip that the News outlet was preparing a documentary that could incite violence.

A statement released on Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published the latest concerns, which included the detention of three staff members and confiscation of electronic items mainly used for publications, such as laptops, mobile phones, data storage units, and external processing equipment.

While all three staff members were released on the same day, the action has raised concerns about threats to Journalism in Ethiopia and lawless actions against them after reports pointed out that the police couldn’t present the authorised arrest warrant.

Providing more insight into the unlawful arrest, the Addis Standard’s publisher and founder, Tsedale Lemma, explained that six plainclothes officers conducted the raid on April 17, where its newsroom and human resources managers were dragged to the Federal Police Crime Investigation Unit for questioning.

He claimed that security officers also raided the home of the outlet’s IT manager earlier that morning, allegedly assaulting him in front of his family before taking him into custody. 

Tsedale denied the allegation that it was preparing a documentary, claiming the outlet does not produce documentaries. He said that he handed over the passwords for the seized devices, raising additional concerns on how the data might be used as the devices are meant to be returned the following week.

“We cannot guarantee the integrity of any messages or emails sent from the compromised devices,” the publisher stated.

Also Read: Press freedom: outrage as Ethiopia arrests 7 journalists over rape documentary.

On the other hand, the federal police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi said the matter is “currently pending in court”. Meanwhile, Addis Standard staff who visited police headquarters on April 22 claimed that they were not informed of any court proceedings. 

The CPJ’s Africa Programme Coordinator, Muthoki Mumo, described the unlawful raid as the latest attempt to stifle independent journalism in the country. She then called authorities to return the seized items and end the investigation.

“The confiscation of the outlet’s equipment raises grave concerns about potential misuse of sensitive data,” she said, 

With items confiscated and sudden legal moves, questions have been raised on fairness, transparency, and attacks on Journalism amid human rights violations in Ethiopia. The East African country was ranked 141st out of 180 countries in the 2024 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index.

A recount of attacks on press freedom in Ethiopia 

The latest move by Ethiopian authorities to suppress Press Freedom adds to a list of many. According to a 2024 CPJ report, at least 92 media workers were detained between 2019 and 2024, with Ethiopia ranking as the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, behind Eritrea.

In 2009, the country passed an infamous and vaguely worded anti-terrorism proclamation which was used to sentence prominent journalists to lengthy jail terms on terrorism charges.

Also in November 2020, civil war broke out in the country’s Tigray region, where the full-scale mobilisation of the army and tolerance for dissenting voices in the press community evaporated. Therein, the Police arrested half a dozen journalists during the first week of the conflict.

As if that wasn’t enough, Tigray-based reporter Dawit Kebede Araya was shot dead by Ethiopian troops in January 2021, becoming the local press community’s first death since 1998.

Rising to address the attacks and backlash on the government, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali urged Ethiopians to prevent the “tarnishing of our country’s reputation.” He blamed some citizens for sympathising with the rebels, for working with enemy states to spread misinformation and plot the downfall of the country.

In April 2021, Abiy overhauled the leadership of the state Ethiopian Media Authority, responsible for regulating media activity in the country. Among the new appointees was a new deputy director called Yonatan Tesfaye, a politician renowned for taking to social media to call for the arrests of journalists he often called ‘traitors’.

By the end of 2021, Ethiopia had detained at least 46 members of its local press. In April 2022, the state-run Ethiopian Media Authority announced that it had filed criminal cases against at least 25 media outlets. Between the first four months of that year, the Ethiopian police pounced on local newsrooms, detaining 19 people, including journalists, magazine editors, and talk show hosts.

In a recent threat, about seven journalists from the Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (EBS) were detained on terrorism allegations. This followed the airing of a controversial documentary on the March 23, 2025, episode of the program “Addis Meiraf.” In the documentary, a woman, Birtukan Temesgen, alleged she was abducted and raped by men in military uniforms in 2020 while she was a student.

The frequent pressure and threats to Journalism have stifled freedom of speech and quality reporting, with international organisations like Amnesty International raising serious concerns about the deteriorating press freedom situation in Ethiopia.