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Ethiopia is using the badbadination of top officials last month as a pretext for stopping criticism without any apparent link to the attacks, international and national human rights activists said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who took office last year, was praised for releasing political prisoners and undertaking radical reforms aimed at easing controls in a long-held and authoritarian Ethiopia.
However, after the killings, activists fear that the government crackdown on journalists, critics and opposition supporters represents a return to the repressive tactics used by previous governments to quell dissent.
"They resort to violence," said journalist and former political prisoner Eskinder Nega at a press conference in Addis Ababa, the capital.
"They use the tactics of strong arms."
Five officials, including the head of the national army and the president of the Amhara region in the north, were killed in the June 22 attacks described as an attempted coup d'etat. by the government.
Officials said that the following week more than 250 "suspects" were arrested as part of the killings.
Nega, however, said Wednesday that "nearly 1,000" had been arrested and that most were peaceful critics of Abiy's government. AFP has not been able to verify this statement independently.
"We have prisoners of conscience now," he said.
"The world should recognize that people are currently incarcerated as political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and the world should support us."
A government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nega's press conference was disrupted by half a dozen young men waving Ethiopian flags who called him a liar and accused him of stirring up tensions between ethnic groups.
However, Fisseha Tekle, an Amnesty International researcher, also told AFP on Wednesday that the total number of people arrested was higher than what the government had announced.
"The government claims to have arrested 250 people involved in the coup, but many more have been arrested for their supposed political opinions and activities," he said.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued statements warning of threats against the Ethiopian press.
Amnesty reported that two journalists were arrested and charged under a controversial anti-terrorist law "that had been used by previous governments to bring trumped-up accusations against their critics."
Earlier this week, state-affiliated media quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying that he was reportedly filing complaints against journalists suspected of defaming and disseminating false information.
Since taking office, Abiy has been commended for taking steps to improve the government's poor human rights record, including the closure of a detention center known to have been tortured. But badysts had warned the authorities could resort to more repressive tactics after the killings.
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