The popular Ethiopian reggae star Teddy Afro is held in custody, charged with the death of Degu Yibeltal – a homeless young man who was killed in a car accident more than a year and half ago.

In mid-July 2008, the newspaper Addis Neger published an interview with Teddy Afro's lawyer, Million Assefa. It was a the front page interview where Million Assefa told the newspaper that he was considering suing the judge of Teddy Afro's court case, Leul Gebremariam, for not letting him defend his client properly. Million Assefa was quoted as saying “that he was considering taking action against judge Leul Gebremariam on disciplinary ground.”

One of the reasons for this was that in July, judge Leul Gebremariam of the Federal High Court ruled a verdict for singer Teddy Afro to defend himself against the prosecutors' charge that he had been involved in the death of Degu Yibeltal, and adjourned his case to 9 October 2008.

Judge Leul Gebremariam held the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Mesfin Negash, as well as the defence lawyer responsible for the content of the interview and labelled it “contempt to the court”.

The newspaper’s deputy editor was also arrested on 4 August. He was released again later the same day, while the lawyer and editor-in-chief remained in custody until — at a court hearing in the morning on 6 August 2008 — Million Assefa was found guilty of contempt of court and was sentenced to one month and 20 days in prison.

Mesfin Negash, owner and editor-in-chief of Addis Neger, was released after the hearing on 6 August.

Trial full of irregularities
Prior to their first court hearing, on 5 August, I asked Million Assefa what he thought the judge had done wrong. Teddy Afro's court case “is abuse of power from single individuals,” he told me, adding that “Teddy Afro's trial was full of irregularities.”

When they appeared in court in the morning on 5 August both the editor and the lawyer looked surprisingly relaxed after a night in prison.

Teddy Afro has been held behind bars for over three months now. He is charged with the hit and run incident that occurred in November 2006. At the time the incident occurred he was detained briefly and released on a 50,000 birr bail, but then, on 16 April 2008, he was suddenly arrested again and taken to Kaliti prison facility, 25 kilometres out of the capital, suspected of killing the 18-year-old street boy. A taxi driver at the time allegedly tipped off the police to the license number of Teddy Afro’s BMW, which was later found in a ditch on the road towards the CMC residential area where the singer resides.

Teddy Afro pleaded not guilty to driving without a license and to negligent driving. His trial has been accompanied by a large crowd of his fans, family and friends who all believe he is innocent, framed by the authorities in order to silence his critique of the regime.