Five Ethiopian journalists have been in detention since 2023 on terrorism charges tied to their reporting on the Amhara war. Gobeze Sisay, Meskerem Abera, Genet Asmamaw, Dawit Begashaw, and Abay Zewdu. Their trials are still unfinished. Conviction can mean life imprisonment or the death penalty.
In August, Abiy Ahmed’s regime offered them a way out that their lawyer calls blackmail. Write an apology. Take responsibility for the crisis, the dead, and the wrecked property. Call the Amhara struggle “extremist.” Promise to stop working as journalists. Consent to unspecified government action if they breach that pledge. Solomon Gezahagn told the Committee to Protect Journalists that the five refused because the letters are self-incriminating, and that prison officials had already isolated them and threatened them into producing their own versions of a government draft.
The Ethiopian government framed the offer as a pardon. Solomon pointed at the law. A pardon comes after a conviction and a final sentence. These five have not been convicted of anything. If Addis wants them free, it withdraws the charges or grants an amnesty. It does not collect a confession in a cell as the price of walking out.
CPJ says more than 300 politicians, journalists, and others facing Amhara-related terrorism charges got the same letter. About 30 refused. A federal court let the joint case against four of them proceed after February; their defense hearing is now set for 19 November after repeated adjournments. Abay’s next hearing is 16 October. CPJ emailed the Ministry of Justice and the Government Communication Service and got no reply. This is how Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party manages press freedom when the Amhara war refuses to end on its preferred script: hold reporters for years, then demand they renounce journalism to go home.
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