In its Human Rights report on Ethiopia, the United States Department of State lists Human rights abuses reported during the year 2008.

The number of political prisoners and detainees during the year estimated to be in the hundreds, says the report and mentions the sentence of the popular singer known as Teddy Afro (Tewodros Kassahun) to six years in prison. The report also recalled the rearrest of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party's president Birtukan Mideksa for accurately telling European media organizations that she had not requested from the government a pardon. Numerous reports of unlawful detention of opposition candidates and their supporters, mostly in the months before April's local and by-elections are also reported. In July and August 2007, the government pardoned 71 individuals arrested following demonstrations in 2005. The pardons permitted the defendants' future political participation, but in practice the government continued to limit that right.

The government continued restricting access to the Internet and blocking opposition Web sites, including the sites of the OLF, ONLF, Ginbot 7, and several news blogs and sites, such as the Ethiopian Review, CyberEthiopia.com, Quatero Amharic Magazine, Tensae Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Media Forum.

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