Ethiopia has released several former government officials from prison. The ethnic Tigrayan group included former members of the government-appointed administration and one member of the ruling party.
Recall, on March 23, Ethiopian police detained a dozen former officials from the country’s war-torn Tigray interim government.
12 Tigrayan officers, an activist and another man were arrested at the time in raids on March 7 and 8, a total of 14 people.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed set up the administration in Tigray after sending troops into the region in November 2020 to topple the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
“All were released today and are now on their way from Afar to Addis Ababa,” said a lawyer who worked with the detainees and asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.
The government has attempted to detain leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been opposing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration for the past 16 months. However, Tigrayans from all walks of life have been arrested and kept without prosecution for weeks or months since the crisis began.
Police said they investigate anyone they suspect of having ties to the TPLF, but they deny targeting anyone of a particular ethnicity. Mothers and babies, elderly inmates, nuns and priests, and officials of the Tigrayan administration nominated by the government were among those incarcerated.
The government has said numerous times that it is fighting the TPLF and not all Tigrayans.