'They wanted me to say I was wrong': Freed Ethiopian journalist on why 1,500 days in jail failed to silence her
January 7, 2016 3:24 PM ET
Reeyot Alemu, an Ethiopian journalist who worked for the independent weekly Feteh, spent almost 1,500 days in prison after being arrested in June 2011 and charged with terrorism in 2012. She was released unexpectedly in July....
Slideshow: Journalists freed
December 15, 2015 12:01 AM ET
While just under 200 journalists are behind bars, CPJ witnessed several memorable releases in 2015, including in Vietnam, Ethiopia, and even secretive Eritrea. Some of the journalists had spent years behind bars; they endured isolation and several say they were...
Ethiopia releases imprisoned journalist Reeyot Alemu
July 9, 2015 12:13 PM ET
New York, July 9, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from prison today of Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu, a critical columnist who has been jailed since June 2011 on terrorism charges. Reeyot was sentenced in 2012 to 14...
Conflating terrorism and journalism in Ethiopia
April 27, 2015 11:01 AM ET
At the Lideta courthouse in Ethiopia's capital city, Addis Ababa, stands a statue of a blindfolded woman holding a set of scales in her outstretched hand--a universal symbol of justice, here cast in metal of pinkish gold and wearing...
Outdated secrecy laws stifle the press in South Africa
April 27, 2015 11:01 AM ET
Nelson Mandela regularly harangued the media once he'd been freed after 27 years of imprisonment by South Africa's apartheid government. He would call individual journalists when he liked or disliked something they had written or when he wanted to...
One year after arrest Zone 9 bloggers remain imprisoned as trial drags on
April 23, 2015 10:29 AM ET
It will be one year this weekend since six bloggers were arrested in Addis Ababa, just days after the group announced on Facebook that their Zone 9 blog would resume publishing after seven months of inactivity. As the anniversary of...
Ten journalists to free from prison
April 29, 2014 11:00 AM ET
On World Press Freedom Day, CPJ calls for the release of all jailed journalists By Shazdeh Omari/CPJ News Editor New York, April 29, 2014—Uzbek editor Muhammad Bekjanov has been in jail for 15 years, one of the longest imprisonments of...
Pressure on Journalists Rises Along With Africa's Prospects
February 12, 2014 2:13 AM ET
After a decade of unprecedented growth and development, the insistence on positive news remains a significant threat to press freedom in sub-Saharan Africa. By Mohamed Keita A newspaper displayed in the Ikoyi district of Lagos on September 30, 2013, tells...
African media leaders must address Ethiopia's repression
November 5, 2013 5:55 PM ET
New York, November 5, 2013--As media leaders and officials of regional institutions gather in Addis Ababa this week for the African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF), the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the participants to ensure that press freedom is...
Africa's journalists honor jailed editor Woubshet Taye
October 15, 2013 11:58 AM ET
Journalists and media owners across Africa gave Ethiopian journalist Woubshet Taye a standing ovation in Cape Town on Saturday night at the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2013, but he wasn't there to see it. Instead his wife and...