Darsema Sori, Radio Bilal
Medium:Radio
Charge:Anti-State
Imprisoned:February 18, 2015
Khalid Mohammed, Radio Bilal
Medium:Radio
Charge:Anti-State
Imprisoned:February 18, 2015

Authorities arrested Darsema and Khalid, reporters for the faith-based Radio Bilal, on February 18, 2015 after police called them in for questioning, local journalists said. On August 17, 2015, the two were charged along with 18 other defendants under the 2009 anti-terrorism law, accused of inciting extremist ideology and planning to overthrow the government and replace it with an Islamic government, according to news reports citing the charge sheet.

Khalid works for Radio Bilal as the news editor and Darsema as senior editor, local journalists said. Darsema had also been a columnist for the now-defunct Ye Muslimoch Guday ("Muslim Affairs") magazine, local journalists told CPJ. The magazine ceased publishing in July 2012 after two of its editors fled into hiding, local journalists said.

Darsema and Khalid extensively covered protests by the Ethiopian Muslim community that began in 2012 to condemn government interference in Islamic affairs, including the government closing of Awoliya College, the country's only Muslim college, in 2011. Authorities claimed the institution was training Islamic radicals, according to news reports. Ethiopian authorities have since sought to silence the demonstrations by arresting protesters, community leaders, and independent reporters, and by shutting down news outlets, according to international news reports and CPJ research.

Darsema and Khalid have been imprisoned by authorities before. On August 2, 2013, they were arrested and held without charge for almost five months. Although no reason was provided, former Radio Bilal Chairman Mohammed Hassen said he believed the journalists were arrested for their extensive coverage and support of the Muslim protests.

Darsema and Khalid were being held at Kilinto Prison in the capital, Addis Ababa. Their trial was scheduled to begin on October 27, 2015, the same sources said.

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