April 7, 2023

An audio recording exposed the security men who abducted the journalist, Gent Asmamaw

City: Addis AbabaPoliticsNewsCurrent Affairs

"They are abusing me. They are insulting me. They are going to abduct me. I don't know where they are going to take me"

Avatar: Seid Mehammed
By Seid Mehammed

Seid is a Senior Reporter at Addis Zeybe having wealth of experience in teaching Journalism, Media and Cultural Research.

An audio recording exposed the security men who abducted the journalist, Gent Asmamaw

Journalist Genet Asmamaw, who was abducted by security men while she was at work at the Yeneta Media Office, exposed her abductors with a recorded audio of the incident on her phone at the time. 

The journalist called her family on the phone and heard that "about five security men in civilian clothes are trying to take me away, saying they want me. They are abusing me. They are insulting me. They are going to abduct me. I don't know where they are going to take me or what they are going to do to me, so tell me that I am kidnapped," she said to her family on the phone. 

On the phone, her abductors, who she said were security personnel and were upset by her speech, were heard shouting at her to stop talking on the phone. 

A man's voice was heard saying, "Stop talking on the phone, come outside, you are not a journalist, shut up." 

The journalist was heard saying, "Don't beat me, why are you hitting me? Why are you kidnapping me without a court order?" 

"Beat her, kick her," and other obscene insults were heard from her abductors; a copy of this voice was released on social media, and many Ethiopians heard it. 

It was learned that journalist Genet Asmamaw recently interviewed General Tefera Mamo, the former Commander of the Amhara Special Forces, on Yeneta YouTube. 

The interview addressed issues that reveled “While the general was going abroad for medical treatment, he was barred from the airport by the government and was sleeping at home.”

She brought this issue to the public's attention by conducting an interview in the general's home, and many of her viewers are expressing their opinion that she was kidnapped because of her interview with the general. 

Prior to her recent job at Yeneta Tube, the journalist, used to work as a reporter for Asrat Media,  and known for raising the questions of the Amhara People and presenting issues of the nation in most of her programs.