• Urgent Action

Urgent Action Victory! – Two Government Critics Released (Ethiopia: UA 62.18)

April 17, 2018

Seyoum Teshome and Taye Dendea were released from Maekelawi prison on 16 April without being charged. The two had been arrested on 8 March and 15 March respectively.

Seyoum Teshome and Taye Dendea were released from Maekelawi prison on 16 April without being charged. The two had been arrested on 8 March and 15 March respectively. Seyoum Teshome, a prominent blogger and professor at Ambo University and Taye Dendea, Head of Public Relations and Communications for the Oromia Justice Bureau, were released on 16 April without being charged. The two had been detained at the Maekelawi Prison since their arrests. Seyoum Teshome was arrested on 8 March at his home at the Woliso campus in central Ethiopia. He had been accused of using his social media accounts to ‘organize a group to instigate violence’. He has written several blogs criticising the Ethiopian government, which he has published on social media, as well as on Amnesty International’s website. Taye Dendea was arrested on 15 March after publicly expressing his doubts in a radio interview that the killing of 11 people by Ethiopian federal forces in Moyale, southern Ethiopia, on 8 March was a mistake, which is what the government had reported. Thank you to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES