According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Amare Aregawi was badly injured when three men attacked him as he was walking near his office. Eyewitnesses told CPJ that the men approached Aregawi from behind, striking the editor in the head with a stone and repeatedly hitting him until he fell unconscious. Aregawi was released from the hospital on November 3rd, 2008.
Local journalists told CPJ that Reporter employees have received anonymous threats in recent weeks in connection with a series of investigative reports alleging that people close to Saudi-Ethiopian billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi had mismanaged his investments. Many believe the violent attack on Aregawi is connected to his work as a journalist. David Dadge, director of the International Press Institute (IPI) stated that, “[g]iven that Aregawi has been targeted for his work in the past, IPI is concerned that this attack was linked to his journalism.” This attack, states IPI, follows a series of recent editorials in the Reporter criticizing members of the local business community.
According to CPJ, this is the second time this year that Aregawi has faced reprisals over the Reporter’s critical coverage of influential business interests in the country. Aregawi was detained in August for six days without charge over a story reporting on a labor dispute at a government-run brewery in northern Ethiopia.
“The Ethiopian police must investigate this attack thoroughly in order to identify both the perpetrators and the instigators,” Reporters Without Borders stated. “A show of firmness will convince others who might be tempted to use physical violence to settle scores with the press that such behavior would not go unpunished.”
