by De Birhan
Befeqadu Hailu, a member of the Zone9 blogging collective , who was detained by the Ethiopian Command Post for an alleged interview he gave for the VoA Amharic, has reportedly been released today.
He was held at a military camp farther South of Addis Abeba since he was siezed in his home in home in Addis Abeba on November 10, 2016.
Finally.
After 40 days and 39 nights of arbitrary detention, my good friend Befkadu Hailu is released. Thousands remains.
— Zelalem Kibret (@zelalemkibret) December 22, 2016
Previously, he was arrested in April 2014, along with the other members of the Zone 9 bloggers, a group of Ethiopian bloggers and journalists, who were put behind bars in a case that has widely been seen as a government crackdown on freedom of expression.
Another blogger and lecturer at Ambo University, Seyoum Teshome, who was detained on October 1, 2016 has also been released.
Similarly, reports have indicated that two other widely known young activists Blen Mesfin and Eyasped Tesfaye have been released after spending over two months under the hands of the Command Post in different military camps for allegedly trespassing the State of Emergency.
Ethiopia yesterday released over 9000 alleged protesters after giving them “training” and making them promise and wear a t-shirt which read “Never again.”
Source: Debirhan
