CPJ calls for release of Ethiopian journalist

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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged Ethiopian authorities to release journalist Salsawit Baynesagn, detained without charge by officials since early June, according to her family.

The Horn of Africa country of some 130 million people has one of the world's worst records for press freedom -- ranked 148 out of 180 by Reporters Without Borders.

Restrictions were briefly eased when the current prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, rose to power in 2018 but that soon gave way to a renewed crackdown.

"Salsawit Baynesagn's detention without charge or without being brought before a court within 48 hours is a serious violation of her rights and a warning to Ethiopian journalists covering sensitive public issues," said CPJ Africa Director Angela Quintal in a statement late Friday.

Authorities have yet to disclose any charges or specific allegations against her.

"Ethiopian authorities must release Salsawit immediately or promptly bring her before a court and disclose any charges against her," Quintal said.

Salsawit's family told the CPJ they believed her detention was linked to videos posted on social media, in which she criticised the government and public silence over recent violence in the populous Oromia state.

In the days around the June 1 polls, the insurgent group Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) carried out a string of attacks killing multiple people, according to witnesses who spoke with AFP.

Her sister told CPJ that Salsawit -- who worked for state-affiliated outlets, before leaving to create independent commentary on social media -- was arrested at her home in capital Addis Ababa on June 8.

She was held for two days in a temporary detention facility, where relatives say they were denied access, before being transferred to the police commission, according to the CPJ, citing her family and media reports.

Authorities have cracked down on independent media recently.

Earlier this month, French journalist Augustine Passilly, who worked for the La Croix newspaper, was expelled, their employer told AFP.

The Addis Standard had its licence revoked in February over accusations of having "undermined national interests" and its editor was seized by masked men from its newsroom in April and held incommunicado for two weeks.