By Elizabeth Blunt
(BBC) Addis Ababa — Ethiopia’s most popular pop singer, Teddy Afro, has pleaded not guilty to causing the death of a young man in a hit and run incident 18 months ago.
Thousands of young people mounted an impromptu protest after the High Court hearing, running through the streets, shouting, “Teddy is innocent”.
Unauthorised demonstrations are almost unheard of in Ethiopia and there was a heavy paramilitary police presence.
At a previous hearing, the noise of his fans almost drowned out proceedings.
This time the case was moved to a building at the back of the court area, well away from the crowd.
The singer appeared under close police guard, dressed in a pink t-shirt and looking subdued.
He spoke only to plead not guilty to negligent driving, driving without a licence, and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
The incident in question took place in November 2006 and since then the singer, whose real name is Tewodros Kassahun, has been free on bail.
It is not clear why he was rearrested last week and has now been charged.
He was remanded in custody until next Tuesday.
As the news spread in the street that Teddy was going back to jail, the crowd erupted and a large group of youths started jogging past waving and shouting that the singer was not guilty.
The police chased them with batons until they finally dispersed into the surrounding streets.
This kind of demonstration has not been seen in Addis Ababa since the period after the elections in 2005 when Teddy Afro’s songs were playing everywhere and his music was the anthem of the anti-government protesters.
25 thoughts on “Protests in Addis Ababa over Teddy Afro’s arrest”
Yeferedbaet? or ayeferedbdt? Selfu lemen’nwu !!!!!!!!!!?
I know the ethiopian people will never let teddy afro alone.Bravo those who participated in the demonstration.He deserves more.
Jahh Yasteserial……
This junta was waiting to get Teddy and as expected fabricated charges against an enocent peace loving man….
Becareful NEWAY DEBEBE …..They may not lock u up now but sooner later they might plant something for u to brother….
Jah yasteseryal
We hear about the arrest of Teddy that the demonstration of the youngs is supported,We are at the side of Teddy,Teddy is the anthem of Ethiopia the people win!!!Let wayane go to hell!!!!!!!
Teddy became the Icon to many ethiopians who believes and stand for the Truth. Teddy echoed that unvarnished truth through his music. Now, on his trial, these same followers echoing their voice and stand for him. We all have to give back and show the unultimate support to Teddy..anbesaw.
Ayzooooo Teddy.
no body knows if he did it or not. i read on addisfortune web site that teddy was very nerves when the reporters were askeing a Q. why?? as we know he was very good speaker when ever he get a chance so some times you never know gays!!! you can not tell the book by seeing the cover of the book !!! some times we have to reasenable what aboutthe poor gay who is dade by the couse well think about that too?????????? even thought good luck teddy
Well,
This is not politics people. It is all about justice. Justice for the poor; justice for all. Teddy couldn’t prove himself that he didn’t kill the poor victim. “I didn’t do it” is not a way out from such type of crime. Had he stopped and took the victim to the hospital, the victim could have survived.
በቀለኛው ወያኔ ሆን ብሎ ያደረገው ነው!!!!!!! ስለ ፍትህ የምትጨነቁ ከሆነማ በጠራራ ጸሐይ በአደባባይ ህጻናትንና ወጣቶችን እንዲሁም እናቶችን የጨፈጨፈዉን መለስ ና ግብረአበሮቹ ለፍርድ እንዲቀርብ በጠየቃችሁ ነበር! ቴዲ ልጁን እንዳልገጨማ ባለፈዉ ጊዜ ተረጋግጧል!!!
ቴዲዬ ሁሌም እንወድሃልን ጌታ ይርዳህ!!!
ዉርደት ና ሞት ለወያኔ!!!!!!!!
Mark, if it was all about justice, Teddy should not have to prove that he is innocent. It is upto the prosecutor to prove that he is guilty.
toloso ena mark, tadyya lemen weyane 18 wer mulu tebeke,tefateja kenebere….. tenesch ke gizew gar eyeheden enaseb brothers! weyane will damage u if u show that u feel Ethiopia, couse they do not have ye hager semet!
well when i heard about teddy’s arrest i was shocked becuase i am the fun of teddy afro but what about the victim who is dead by the alleged crime?even if teddy is such peace loving person ,if he have cimmited the alleged crime then there is no way for him to escape from justice becuse he is famous.but by seen teddy’s behaviour i strongly believe that he didn’t committe such a henious crime becuse he is a peace loving, truthfull and very generous person.so teddye let God be with you all the way through and let the truth set you free. who knows it might be for the blessing of God.God always know what is best for us. happy easter.
Yeterday I have been in the high court (Kefetegna) compound expressing solidarity to the true son of Ethiopia who is charged in fabricated case.I have seen Elizabeth Blunt of BBC running behind the protestors recording the event that is posted above. She was really doing the job of couragous journalist.
People were expecting Teddy will be free in bail forgeting the absence of justice there. Unfortunately Teddy returned back to Kality to celebrate Easter(Fasica) with the inmates. Who knows he may write or compose a new piece for his next creative work there?
Here I would like to repeate what Abdu wrote in u’r previous article.
‘ ADDIS NEGUS INJI LEWIT MECHE METTA !’ Teddy
‘ ADDIS ASARI INJI FITIH MECHE METTA !’ Abdu
No doubt Crime Miniter Zenawi is the mastermind behind the ‘village idiots’ directing this drama.
Thank you Abdu
hi
Looks like rich and fame people, they don’t need a court to declare innocence. ¨ Aye ethiopian¨
If we accept that Tedy is guilty of the fact that has been brought to court, the case is normal to proceed without the denial of bail right.
It is obviously a charge of vendetta against the popular singer and the icon of his generation.
Nowadays, Woyanne and naive or mad people are the same. They touch all buttons without looking to the consequence.
This generation (the generation of Teddy), now have gotten a cause to fight the Zenawi regime with tooth and nail.
Woyanne will be highly polarized wit the youth of Ethiopia. It is time to tap and exploit this contradiction to the favor of the opposition groups.
ጎበዝ ዎያኔ እኮ የተሰራዉ ከበቀል አስኳል ነዉ፤ስራቸዉ በማንኛዉም ጊዜ ለኢትጵያ ተምሳሌት ይሆናል ያሉቱን ሁሉ ማጥፋት ነዉ፡፡
የኦረሞን ህዝብ በኦነግ ስም፤የአማራን ህዝብ በመአህድ ስም፤ወዘተ ያሰሩት የገደሉት ህዝቡን ያለአርኣያ ሆን ብሎ ለማስቀረት ካላቸዉ ፍላጎት የመነጨ ነዉ፡፡
ኢትዮጵያዊ ስሜት ያላዉና ያነድነቷ ተምሳሌት ሊሆን ይችላል ብለዉ ያሰቡትን በዚህ መንገድ ማጥፋት ዛሬ ላይ ለደረሱበት የእድሜ ጠራ ሰረገላቸዉ እንደሆነ ጠንቅቀዉ ያዉቃሉ፡፡ኢትዮጵያን ያላንዳች ተቀናቃኝ የመግዛት ብቸኛ ስልት አድርገዉ ያዙት ዜጎቿ አዉራ የሌለዉ ንብ አይነት እጣ ፈንታ ሲገጥማቸዉ ነዉ ብለዉ ያስባሉ፤እያደረጉትም ይገኛሉ፡፡
ስለሆነም የቴድሮስ ካሳሁን ገጠመኝም ከዚሁ ጋር በእጅጉ የተቆራኘ ነዉ፡፡
በመኪና አደጋ ሰዉ መግደል የዋስትና መብት ያስከለከለበት አጋጣሚ አስካሁን ኢትጵያ ዉስጥ አልታየም ከቴዲ አፍሮ በስተቀር፡፡
ሰለሆነም በቀል ነዉና እናዉገዝ፤ከቴዲ ጎን እንቁም፡፡
Good jop people. He deserves it. He was there for us all the time. Keep fighting for him.
come on people!if he were guilty he wouldn’t have gone back to Ethiopia.as he had put it “he is not too low of a person to hit & run”.he is just not.He’s guilt is he is with the people not with woyane.
he is a brave man!! Keep it up Teddy.
Please,let this singer have his freedom,everybody has freedom of speech,yes you guys came with nothing and have something now.you became dectator ship killing our people and stealing our money.teddy is the truth.
It’s so sad.Is this how we Ethiopians evaluate truth?What if this victim is our family do we have the same mind?Let’s put a side our emotion and start be acountabele for our action.
Ben,
1- The corpus delicti, the body of the crime was identified; a pedestrian was allegedly hit and killed by a hit and run offense.
2- The car that hit the victim was found and the owner was identified. (Mr.Teddy)
3- A witness testified that they saw the car hitting the victim and run
4- The owner of the car, Mr. Teddy consent that he was the one who was driving the car at the time of the accident.
The prosecutor indeed provided evidence that Mr. Teddy hit the victim. Therefore, there is a probable cause to arrest Mr. Teddy and/or deny him a bail.
The only defense by the defendant was ‘I didn’t do it’. That is why I said it is up to Mr. Teddy to prove that he didn’t do it.
Mark,if the case is this simple to conclude that Teddy commited this crime, why did it take them this long to prove him guilty.Fishy.
I love Tedy and I respect him but he did wrong he has to punished. why we are thinking like weyane? I don’t know what exactly happen but as far as I know He killed a person not dog. It has to be cleared. I know we hate weyane but don’t be emotional think 1234 times.
Quuestions for all:
why to raise the issue after 18 months the incident took over ….?
Why to assign Ato Leoul one of the judges who was seeing the case of Kinjit leaders …?
Why for banning YASESERYAL &… from public media?
WHY……..?
TIME WILL TELL THE FACT LATER.
alamen alena tedy alamen alena
alamen alamen alachew tereterachew
alamen alena police alamen alena
alamen alamen alut wesedew aserut
endet mekera newe eser bet megebat
tadia endet yemenew ehen hulu weshet
tedy bemekinaw wesham aygedelebet x2
wesham ayegedelebet
huhu alam huhu alam alamn
esu konjo newe yaye ayalefewem
enkwans setu wendu aymerewem
lebu ayatatem echinx2
echin
lebu ayatatem lebu ayatatem echin
alam alamn alamen
lambadina yeketelal next time:: we love u tedyoo
teddy I am so sory about everything. you are good man so God with you at any time. and also i prey very much for you! 143!!!