{"id":392635,"date":"2018-01-18T07:26:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T07:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=392635"},"modified":"2018-01-18T07:56:17","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T07:56:17","slug":"jailed-ethiopia-opposition-leader-freed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/01\/jailed-ethiopia-opposition-leader-freed\/","title":{"rendered":"Jailed Ethiopia opposition leader freed"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jailed Ethiopian opposition leader Merera Gudina has been freed after more than a year in detention.<\/p>\n
The leader of the Oromo Federalist Congress was released on Wednesday morning and allowed to go home, where he was welcomed by thousands of people.<\/p>\n
He has been in prison since December 2016 and was facing charges, including association with terrorist groups.<\/p>\n
The Ethiopian government announced on Monday that it would drop charges against more than 500 suspects.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups have long accused Ethiopia of refusing to allow opposition groups to operate freely.<\/p>\n
The government has denied holding any political prisoners but says the releases will foster national debate and “widen the political sphere”.<\/p>\n
Those being freed will first undergo two days of “rehabilitation training”, the government says.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of January, Prime Minster Hailemariam Desalegn announced the government would close Maekelawi – a detention facility in the capital, Addis Ababa, allegedly used as a torture chamber.<\/p>\n
Mr Merera was arrested in November 2016 at the airport in the capital, Addis Ababa, after he flew in from Brussels.<\/p>\n
He had violated Ethiopia’s state of emergency by having contact with “terrorist” and “anti-peace” groups, state-linked media reported at the time.<\/p>\n
That month, Mr Merera had criticised the state of emergency in an address to the European parliament.<\/p>\n
The government imposed it in October 2016 to end an unprecedented wave of protests against its 25-year rule.<\/p>\n