Ethiopian Police> | File Photo|.
Nairobi, September 5, 2025
The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ethiopian authorities to unconditionally release Sheger FM radio editor Tigist Zerihun and reporter Mintamir Tsegaw, who were taken into custody on September 3 following the forced removal of Mintamir’s August 29 report on widespread protests over poor working conditions for healthcare workers, according to multiple news outlets.
The Ethiopian Media Authority—the regulatory body responsible for sanctioning news outlets that violate press ethics, with the power to revoke their licenses—sent a letter accusing the station of “incitement to violence and bias” following the report and ordered the segment removed from Sheger’s social media platforms, colleagues told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns. CPJ verified that the report was removed from the radio’s social media pages.
“The Ethiopian public’s access to independent reporting on healthcare is essential, and it is disturbing that authorities have responded to reporting on this public interest matter through censorship and arrests,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “The Ethiopian government must end its escalating harassment of the press and should immediately release journalists Tigist Zerihun and Mintamir Tsegaw and reinstate their report.”
Federal police officers and plainclothes security personnel raided Sheger FM’s premises in the capital Addis Ababa around 4:30 p.m., detaining head of news Eshete Assefa, and arresting Mintamir and later Tigist from her home in the capital’s Ferensay Mazoria neighborhood, colleagues told CPJ. Eshete was released without charge after police questioning that evening.
Mintamir and Tigist are being held at the Federal Police Crime Investigation Bureau in Mexico Square, colleagues said. No charges have been disclosed.
Their September 5 appearance before the Federal High Court, Lideta Branch, was postponed to September 8 due to the court’s full docket, according to colleagues.
CPJ’s text messages to federal police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi regarding Tigist and Mintamir’s detentions, as well as emails to the Ethiopian Media Authority about its letter ordering the removal of Sheger’s report, did not receive any response.
