(Nairobi) - Ethiopian security forces have arbitrarily arrested several journalists and media professionals since August 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. "The authorities should stop targeting journalists and media workers and immediately release those unjustly detained for their work." The arbitrary detention of at least six media professionals, including holding them incommunicado or in prolonged detention without charge, renews concerns about media freedom in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said. The latest crackdown on independent media followed parliament's approval of widely criticized amendments to the country's 2021 media law on April 17. Ethiopia's regional and international partners should be more regularly outspoken in condemning the government's assault on independent media and civil society groups.