Ethiopia: Newspaper distributor detained, released on bail

A prominent newspaper distributor was released on bail Tuesday after four days in police detention in the capital, Addis Ababa. Fikre Gudu was arrested in connection with an interview he gave to the private Amharic-language weekly Asqual about his one-month imprisonment in June, according to local sources who spoke to him after his release. In the interview, which ran after his release on July 7, Gudu talked about his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in a detention center outside the capital. According to local sources, he described poor prison conditions and criticized the government for jailing him, saying his arrest was part of a crackdown on Ethiopian independent media.