Ethiopia Releases Former Tigray Government Officials – Lawyer

Ethiopia has released several former government officials from prison, according to a lawyer working with them.

The group of ethnic Tigrayans included former members of the government-appointed administration and a member of the ruling party.

The state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on March 18 that at least eight officials had been arrested, but gave no names, or reasons for the arrests.

The lawyer and a second source said at the time 12 Tigrayan officials, an activist and another man had been arrested in raids on March 7 and 8 – a total of 14 people.

The government has sought to arrest leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been fighting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government for the last 16 months. But since the conflict erupted, Tigrayans from all walks of life have been arrested and held without charge for weeks or months.

Police say they are investigating anyone they suspect of TPLF links and deny targeting any particular ethnicity. Those detained have included mothers and babies, elderly prisoners and nuns and priests – and members of the Tigrayan administration the government itself appointed.

The government has repeatedly said it is fighting against the TPLF and not Tigrayans in general.

The lawyer said no charges were brought against the group but that police accused them of involvement in terrorism and having TPLF connections.

The TPLF now controls Tigray after Tigrayan fighters forced the military to leave at the end of June 2021. But the government controls the territory around it and only a tiny trickle of aid has been able to enter famine-hit Tigray since the military pulled out.