Leading Ethiopian journalist Amare Aregawi was assaulted brutally Friday last in capital Addis Ababa, an attack in which he suffered serious head injuries, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Aregawi edits the Reporter, a big-circulation newspaper published in Amharic and English-language versions.
“The Ethiopian police must investigate this attack thoroughly in order to identify both the perpetrators and the instigators,” Paris-based said Monday. “A show of firmness will convince others who might be tempted to use physical violence to settle scores with the press that such behaviour would not go unpunished.”
The Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) has denounced the assault. IPI Director David Dadge said in a statement, "Given that Aregawi has been targeted for his work in the past, IPI is concerned that this attack was linked to his journalism. IPI calls on the authorities to not only bring those behind this brutal act to justice, but to also do everything in their power to ensure that Ethiopian journalists are free to carry out their profession without fear of attack."
Aregawi was dealt blows to the back of the head with a stone by one or several men as he was leaving his son’s school in the capital’s Bole district at about 4 p.m. on October 31. He lost consciousness immediately and, bleeding heavily from his injuries, was rushed to Hayat hospital in a serious condition.
Journalists at the Reporter said one of his assailants was arrested, as was the driver of a taxi they were going to use to get away. The police are investigating the matter.
The newspaper’s staff said the motive for the attack was not yet known. Aregawi had received threatening phone calls. He was arrested on August 22 after a large privately-owned brewery brought a libel complaint against the newspaper and was released five days later on payment of a small bail amount. The libel suit was withdrawn soon afterwards.
The Reporter is owned by Media & Communication Centre, a company created and run by Aregawi, who used to head Ethiopia’s public television broadcaster. He is one of the country’s best-known journalists.
