Bekalu Alamirew, the founder and chief editor of Alpha TV, a YouTube-based news channel, was detained yesterday, Ethiopia Insider reported. The journalist was arrested just after returning home from assisting his graduation ceremony, Ethiopia Insider wrote, citing family sources. The journalists’ home was searched for almost an hour, according to the website.

At around 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 06, three security officers in federal police and civil uniforms arrived at the journalist’s residence in Arat Kilo area of Addis Ababa, his family explained. Bekalu, who was celebrating his second degree graduation ceremony surrounded by family and friends, was taken to the Federal Police Criminal Investigation Bureau found in the Mexico area, Ethiopia Insider reported.

Bekalu, who first earned his first degree in Amharic language and literature from Bahar Dar University, graduated yesterday with a master’s degree in “Global Study and International Relations” from New Generation University. The journalist wrote on his Facebook page that he pursued his education in the face of persecution and imprisonment.

The journalist has been detained four times in the past three years. Bekalu was arrested in May 2022 when he was accused of inctiment to violence and in November 2020 when he was accused of disseminating false information, and in June 2021, when he was held for weeks without access to family or lawyers, according to news reports.