Prosecutors in Ethiopia have charged a journalist under a newly enacted anti-hate speech and disinformation law over reports about coronavirus.
Yayesew Shimeles, who has used his shows on opposition-leaning Tigray TV and social media platforms to criticise Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration, has become the first to be charged under the measures.
Human rights groups have said that they could threaten freedom of expression.
Yayesew has apologised for an incorrect report about the potential death toll from Covid-19 which landed him in trouble.
He was arrested several weeks ago and prosecutors have now charged him under the new law passed in February.
An earlier attempt to charge him under anti-terror laws was thrown out by the court.
He had been granted bail twice before but was not released – and today he was granted bail for a third time but it is not clear whether he has been freed.
For years Ethiopia has been one of the worst jailers of journalists, until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018, introduced reform measures.
Now rights groups fear that the new anti-hate speech law could reverse those changes.
