Nairobi – A freelance video journalist working for the Associated Press was freed on bail on Friday after more than four months in detention without charge, the US news agency said.
Amir Aman Kiyaro, 30, was arrested in the capital Addis Ababa in late November under the country’s wartime state of emergency, which was lifted in February.
AP said he was freed after the country’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling to free him on bail, which was set at the equivalent of about $1 170, according to his lawyer.
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“We are relieved that journalist Amir Aman Kiyaro has been released on bail and reunited with his family,” AP executive editor Julie Pace said in a statement sent to AFP.
“At the same time, we are dismayed that he is still being investigated. We urge the Ethiopian authorities in the strongest terms to drop their baseless investigation against Amir, an independent journalist targeted because of his work”.
Journalists working in Ethiopia faced restrictions under the nationwide state of emergency which was declared in November as the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) threatened to advance on the capital.
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Ethiopian police had accused Kiyaro and other journalists arrested with him of seeking to disseminate “propaganda” about the TPLF and its ally the Oromo Liberation Army.
Their actions could be punishable by prison terms of seven to 15 years, police said at the time of their arrest.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pexels
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