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Kenya: Embassy Helping Ethiopia-Detained Journalist Yassin Juma, Kenya Says

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5 years ago

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The government says Yassin Juma, the Kenyan journalist detained in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has been given adequate assistance to defend himself.

A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Mr Juma, whose real name is Collins Juma Osemo, has been granted relevant consular assistance.

Mr Juma, once an investigative journalist for various media outlets in Kenya, was arrested last month in Addis Ababa, and accused of working illegally in the country.

But the actual charges in court said he and four others had been charged with incitement and involvement in violence and plotting to create ethnic violence and to kill senior Ethiopian officials.

ETHIOPIAN POLITICIANS

These charges were also levelled against several opposition politicians, after protests erupted last month from the killing of veteran Oromo Musician and activist Hachalu Hundessa.

Hundessa, also an activist, was gunned down last month by unknown assailants in Addis Ababa, sparking violent protests in the capital and other urban centres where he was popular.

Police said it arrested 3,500 people after 239 were killed in the protests. Addis Ababa accused Egypt of fomenting domestic trouble ostensibly to divert Ethiopia’s attention from filling the controversial Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD).

REPRESENTATION

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its embassy in Addis Ababa has been following up on Mr Juma’s arrest and detention at Sostegna police Station in that city.