Arbitrary detention of journalists, political opposition, and the shuttering of civic organizations continues unabated in Ethiopia, as rights groups warn that the Abiy Ahmed regime’s crackdown against rights and freedoms is likely to intensify.
According to Angela Quintal, Africa Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), “media and anti-terror laws continue to be weaponized against journalists, internet shutdowns are used to silence reporting, and arbitrary arrests have become routine” in Ethiopia under Abiy Ahmed.
Press Freedom Deteriorates
The Abiy regime’s crackdown against the media, civil society, and civic space is precipitating a deterioration in press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders.
In the 2025 Press Freedom Index, Ethiopia scores 36 out of 100, and ranks 145 out of 180 countries—moving from the “difficult” to “very serious” category (Figure 1). Comparatively, in 2024, Ethiopia scored 41 out of 100, and ranked 141 out of 180 countries.
Figure 1: Ethiopia’s 2025 Press Freedom Ranking
In its latest report, Reporters Without Borders characterizes Ethiopia’s current context as follows: “devastated by inter-ethnic conflict and a civil war, most of the recent gains in press freedom have been reversed. Journalists’ fear of reprisals were reignited by the conflict in the Amhara region, which began a few months after a peace agreement was signed in November 2022 formally ending the Tigray war.”
Ethiopian Policy Institute 