Ethiopian authorities have arrested two individuals with close ties to renowned music icon Teddy Afro, born Tewodros Kassahun, in what observers are calling an alarming escalation of government pressure on the celebrated artist and those around him. The arrests come just days after the release of his highly anticipated comeback album Etorika, which broke records online and ignited fierce debate across the country.
The Arrests: Who Was Taken and How
Mahlet Solomon, Teddy Afro’s spokesperson and assistant manager, was taken into custody by Ethiopian Federal Police on Tuesday afternoon from a hotel in the Bole area of Addis Ababa, where she had been staying for close to a month. A resident of Austria, she had reportedly been planning to return there the following Monday. Sources familiar with her work say she had no history of political involvement and that her role was strictly professional, managing the singer’s media communications and press statements. Federal Police have alleged that she is involved in corruption, though no formal statement has been released and the location of her detention remained undisclosed at the time of initial reporting.
Hours earlier, Youssuf Yasin, described as a longtime close personal friend of Teddy Afro, was also arrested. According to reports, Yasin had no direct involvement in the production or release of the Etorika album.
Late-Night Visit to the Singer’s Home
Shortly after news of Mahlet Solomon’s arrest broke, Ethiopian Media Service reported that government security forces arrived at Teddy Afro’s private residence in Addis Ababa, where he lives with his wife and four children, and knocked aggressively on his door after 11 p.m. local time. The officers were asking for his manager. The singer did not open the door. No further official explanation was provided for the late-night visit.
A Pattern of Escalating Pressure
The arrests of Teddy Afro’s associates are not isolated events. They follow a broader wave of detentions that erupted shortly after the release of Etorika on April 16, 2026, an album that accumulated over 70 million views within approximately five days of its launch on YouTube. One track alone drew more than nine million views in under two days.
Even before the album dropped, the Ethiopian government had banned a planned press conference tied to its release. State-owned media outlets, which initially gave the album brief coverage, were subsequently ordered to remove all content related to it and to stop playing the music altogether.
By the weekend following the release, the country’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) announced the arrest of 138 individuals, claiming they had links to terrorist organizations, including Al-Shabaab and ISIS, and were planning to disrupt the upcoming national election. However, sources on the ground and reports circulating on social media painted a starkly different picture, indicating that a significant portion of those detained were young people in Addis Ababa arrested simply for listening to Teddy Afro’s music. Reports surfaced of at least one mother whose daughter was detained while playing tracks from the album. Around 80 of those arrested were reportedly held at the Federal Criminal Investigation facility, with the remaining 25 held at a city police division.
Who Is Teddy Afro?
Teddy Afro is widely regarded as one of the most significant and beloved musical artists in Ethiopian history. He first rose to national prominence in the early 2000s and became a cultural icon with politically charged albums, most notably Yasteseryal in 2005, released during the tense period surrounding Ethiopia’s general election that year. The government banned several of his songs at the time, and in 2006 he was imprisoned on charges widely viewed by supporters as politically motivated. He was released in 2009 and continued to produce acclaimed work, including Tikur Sew (2012) and Ethiopia (2017).
His history with the Ethiopian government is one of recurring friction, and the pattern appears to be repeating itself with Etorika, released months before Ethiopia’s scheduled June 2026 national election.
Growing Concern Over Artistic Freedom
Human rights observers and civil society voices have expressed deep concern over the government’s response to the album’s release. Critics argue that arresting individuals for listening to music, suppressing a press conference, and silencing state media coverage of an artist represent a serious erosion of freedom of expression. The Coalition for Ethiopian Unity publicly condemned the album ban, calling it a deliberate attempt by the ruling Prosperity Party to manipulate public sentiment ahead of the election.
As of the time of writing, no official charges have been formally announced against Mahlet Solomon or Youssuf Yasin, and neither the Federal Police nor any government institution has issued a public statement about the arrests. Teddy Afro himself has not been detained.
Sources: Borkena Ethiopian News (borkena.com), Zehabesha News (zehabesha.com), Wikipedia — Teddy Afro
