{"id":283665,"date":"2019-08-09T12:10:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T16:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMiTmh0dHBzOi8vY3BqLm9yZy8yMDE5LzA4L2F1dGhvcml0aWVzLWFycmVzdC1zaWRhbWEtbWVkaWEtbmV0d29yay13b3JrZXJzLWluLnBocNIBH2h0dHBzOi8vY3BqLm9yZy9hbXAvMDMwOTg5Lmh0bWw?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-10-17T11:37:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T15:37:19","slug":"cpj-sidama-media-network-workers-arrested-hawassa-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/283665","title":{"rendered":"CPJ urged Ethiopia to charge or free three Sidama Media Network workers held since July 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Committee to Protect Journalists on Aug. 9, 2019, called on Ethiopian authorities to disclose charges against three Sidama Media Network workers held in Hawassa for about three weeks, or release them.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"size-large wp-image-837912\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/fishing-boats-lake-hawassa-2018.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Fishing boats on Lake Hawassa, beside the city of Hawassa, photographed on December 12, 2018.\" \/><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Fishing boats on Lake Hawassa, beside the city of Hawassa, photographed on December 12, 2018. (Mohanad Ayman \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Security personnel arrested managers Getahun Deguye and Tariku Lemma and board members Belay Belguda and Girma Chuluke on the evening of July 18, CPJ said, citing BBC Amharic, an activist who followed the case and a station employee. Girma was released unconditionally after a few hours.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier that day, security officers took the keys to the station's Hawassa offices and ordered journalists to disperse. Staff returned on July 23 but did not fully resume work until July 25, and the station continued to air content from its South Africa offices, CPJ said.<\/p>\n<p>The arrests came amid unrest as activists protesting delays to a referendum on a separate regional state for the Sidama people clashed with security forces. At least 25 people were killed, according to the BBC, and the area also faced an internet shutdown that CPJ's sources said had since been lifted.<\/p>\n<p>The activist told CPJ the station was aligned with the statehood movement and was targeted because it was seen as a \u201cvoice for [the] Sidama cause.\u201d The detainees appeared in court in Hawassa on July 22, and on Aug. 1 the court gave investigators 10 more days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe political leaning of Sidama Media Network or its staff does not justify detaining its employees for weeks without charge or shutting down the station,\u201d said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ's Sub-Saharan Africa representative.<\/p>\n<p>The prime minister's press secretariat referred CPJ to regional press secretary Fikre Aman, who did not immediately respond, and police commander Dagnachew Demissie did not respond to calls or a text message, CPJ said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/cpj.org\/2019\/08\/authorities-arrest-sidama-media-network-workers-in.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Committee to Protect Journalists<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Committee to Protect Journalists on Aug. 9, 2019, called on Ethiopian authorities to disclose charges against three Sidama Media Network workers held in Hawassa for about three weeks, or release them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-283665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/fishing-boats-lake-hawassa-2018.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1bNf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283665"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837926,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283665\/revisions\/837926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}