Press freedom groups have condemned the Addis Standard raid in Addis Ababa, describing it as one of the most serious attacks yet on Ethiopia’s independent media.
The Addis Standard raid took place on 2 August, a day after the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Yonas Kedir, was detained and assaulted by security personnel. According to a statement from JAKENN Publishing PLC, the publisher of Addis Standard, heavily armed security and intelligence officers entered the newsroom and seized cameras, microphones and audio and video production equipment. Lighting systems in the outlet’s purpose-built studio were also destroyed.
Yonas was held for roughly 24 hours on 1 August and questioned repeatedly about his professional work, the publisher said. He told JAKENN Publishing that interrogators focused on a question he had put to AFRICOM Commander General Anderson about Ethiopia’s role in the Sudan conflict, raised during a press briefing on the African Logistics and Communications Symposium.
Three days after the Addis Standard raid, the outlet’s landlord issued a notice ordering JAKENN Publishing to vacate the premises it has occupied for sixteen years within three days. The publisher said the landlord had been compelled to act by police authorities, and it has launched legal action to challenge the notice as unlawful.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said the events represented an alarming escalation in a wider campaign against the outlet. CPJ Africa Programme Coordinator Muthoki Mumo said the detention of Yonas Kedir, the newsroom raid and the eviction notice together amounted to a coordinated effort to dismantle one of Ethiopia’s leading independent news organisations. She called on authorities to return the seized equipment immediately and halt the eviction.
Human Rights Watch also condemned the Addis Standard raid, noting that it follows a pattern of pressure on the outlet stretching back several years. In April, men in plainclothes seized the publication’s then managing editor, Million Beyene, from the newsroom and held him incommunicado for nearly two weeks before releasing him without charge. He has since left the outlet, and authorities have not explained his detention.
The Addis Standard raid also comes months after the Ethiopian Media Authority revoked the outlet’s online media registration certificate in February, citing repeated violations of media law. JAKENN Publishing is challenging that decision in court, and the case remains unresolved.
Earlier incidents cited by press freedom monitors include an April 2025 police raid on the outlet’s office and an employee’s home, during which three senior staff members were briefly detained and electronic equipment was confiscated. The outlet’s operating licence was also temporarily suspended in 2021, and a former editor, Medihane Ekubamichael, was detained in 2020.
Reporters Without Borders ranked Ethiopia 148th out of 180 countries in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, classifying the country’s media environment as very serious. The organisation attributed the decline partly to renewed fighting in the Amhara region and the continued detention of journalists nationwide.
In March, a group of forty one countries raised concerns about shrinking civic space and worsening press freedom in Ethiopia during a statement delivered at the sixty first session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The group warned that restrictions on fundamental rights could affect preparations for the country’s June elections.
JAKENN Publishing has called on Ethiopia’s Ministry of Justice, the Federal Police Commission and the Addis Ababa Police Commission to cooperate with its legal team as it investigates the incidents. The publisher urged authorities to preserve evidence, disclose the legal basis for their actions and hold those responsible to account.
Ethiopian authorities have not publicly responded to the allegations linked to the Addis Standard raid. Requests for comment sent by press freedom organisations to the Ministry of Justice and the Government Communication Service had not received a response at the time statements were issued.
Despite the Addis Standard raid and the pressure that followed, JAKENN Publishing said it remains committed to independent and public interest journalism, and that Addis Standard will continue reporting.
The Addis Standard raid has drawn renewed attention to the state of media freedom in Ethiopia ahead of elections scheduled for June, with rights groups warning that the space for independent reporting continues to narrow.
