Ethiopian authorities should release Getachew Shiferaw, an online newspaper editor who was arrested Dec. 25, the New York-based Committee To Protect Journalists said in a prepared statement.

Ethiopia is the third worst jailer of journalists in Africa with at least 10 behind bars on Dec. 1, CPJ’s 2015 prison census shows.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an American independent nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.

Editor-in-chief of online newspaper Negere Ethiopia, Shiferaw was the second Ethiopian journalist arrested in a week. His arrest follows the detention Dec. 19 of Fikadu Mirkana, a news anchor at the state-run broadcaster Oromia Radio and TV, who was arrested at his Addis Ababa home, according to news reports, CPJ said.

The arrests come amid protests over a plan by authorities to expand the Ethiopian capital. Critics say the expansion would displace hundreds of thousands of farmers, according to news reports. Authorities have cracked down on the demonstrators as well as voices critical to the effort and independent voices in the press, according to news reports.

Getachew was arrested by police on Dec. 25 while walking to his office in Addis Ababa, news reports said. He is being held at Maekelawi, the main federal police investigation center, where political detainees have been tortured or ill-treated, according to a 2013 report by Human Rights Watch.

“Ethiopia prides itself on development, but economic growth is a hollow achievement if the public does not enjoy fundamental human rights such as the right to receive and share information and divergent viewpoints,” said Sue Valentine, programs coordinator for CPJ Africa. Authorities should immediately release Getachew Shiferaw, drop all charges against him, and allow journalists to do their jobs.”

In a separate move against Ethiopian journalists, authorities on Dec. 24 ordered five members of the Zone 9 blogging group–Soleyana, Abel Wabella, Natnail Feleke, Atnaf Berhane, and Befekadu Hailu–to appear in court on Dec. 30. The bloggers were acquitted of terrorism charges in October. The prosecution is appealing their acquittal, Soleyana told CPJ. Befekadu is still facing charges of “incitement of violence through writing.” The Zone 9 bloggers were honored with CPJ’s 2015 International Press Freedom Award in November.

Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia are Africa’s leading jailers of journalists, according to a new report by the CPJ. Fifty journalists — at least a quarter of the 199 in jail globally in 2015 for doing their jobs — were in Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

That’s more than China, which had 49 journalists in jail in 2015 as of Dec. 1.

Other African countries that had journalists jailed in 2015 include two each in Gambia and Somalia, and one each in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritania and Morocco, according to the CPJPrisonCensus.

There were no journalists in jail in Egypt in 2012, but in 2015 CPJ said it’s one of the worst places on the continent to work in media. Egypt had 23 reporters, cameramen and bloggers behind bars in 2015 — the majority for reporting on protests by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, DailyNation reported.

Ethiopia has has become notorious for labeling critics of the essentially one-party state as terrorists and jailing them, DailyNation reported. These include prominent online columnist Eskinder Nega, who is serving an 18-year sentence and Temesghen Desalegn, an opinion writer who has been denied health care in prison.

In Eritrea, one of Africa’s most closed countries, no reasons are ever given for jailing reporters the regime does not like.