Ethiopian authorities have intensified their crackdown on press freedom in a cynical attempt to silence criticism in the lead-up to the country’s national election on 1 June, Amnesty International said today.

In recent months, Ethiopian authorities have launched a campaign of repression against independent media by arbitrarily arresting , forcibly disappearing and unlawfully surveilling journalists. Other journalists have had their accreditation revoked , while several media houses have lost their licenses arbitrarily.

“Ethiopian authorities should reverse these increasingly authoritarian tendencies and immediately end this campaign of repression against the media.…