WPF stands in unwavering solidarity with Ximena Borrazás, a freelance journalist and photographer based in Barcelona, who has faced a torrent of online harassment following her reports on the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Amhara journalists Genet Asmamaw and Meskerem Abera taken by police.

Founding editor of private broadcaster Ethio Nikat Media, Meskerem Abera was arrested for the second time within the year 2022 for undisclosed reasons.

Journalist Meaza Mohammed has been detained for the third time in nine months in connection with her journalistic work.

Digital journalist Meaza Mohammed is the latest woman media worker to be detained as authorities ramp up arrests in the country.

Luwam Atikilti, a reporter for Ahadu Radio & TV, was arrested from her workplace on October 22. According to her lawyer, Abebaw Abebe, Luwam was arrested from the news organization’s office in Addis Ababa at around 4pm. The police subsequently arrested another Ahadu Radio & TV journalist, Kibrom Worku, after summoning him on October 26. Both journalists have been in detention since then. The arrests came after the channel aired an interview of an official, who spoke about the takeover of Hayk town in Amhara by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a rebel group that's been long engaged in a war with the federal government. The official’s claims were allegedly false. The channel later retracted the interview and issued a public apology as well. But this did not stop the authorities from proceeding against the journalists. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns these arrests. We are concerned for Luwam and her colleague’s safety and demand their immediate release. Ethiopian authorities must end their crackdown on journalists covering the ongoing war.

Three gunmen entered journalist Lucy Kassa’s house, physically assaulted her, and took equipment from her house. To make matters worse, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority, instead of supporting a journalist in such distress, claimed that since Lucy was not “accredited as a journalist” and statements in her support were ‘wrong”.