More Than 300 Prisoners Held on Terrorism Charges Are Reported Set for Release

More than 300 prisoners who were charged with terrorism offences and have spent years in detention — among them Christian Tadele — are to be released, Tikvah Ethiopia reported on Sunday. The outlet framed the report as something it had heard rather than as a confirmed announcement, and no government body has published a release list.

According to the report, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission acted as mediator. Detainees were asked to sign a set of conditions and to request release under amnesty. Most are said to have signed; a number did not.

Why a release list is a business story

Ethiopia's prosecutions under the anti-terrorism framework have run alongside, and often overlapped with, the country's political disputes. A release on this scale, if it happens, is the clearest signal in months about where the government thinks the negotiated track stands — which is the same question every lender, insurer and foreign investor with Ethiopian exposure has been asking since fighting resumed in the north.

Christian Tadele is the name that carries the report. His detention has been one of the more visible cases of the past two years, and his release would be read domestically as a political decision rather than an administrative one.

Open

Almost everything material is unconfirmed. There is no published list, no statement from the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, no statement from the Ministry of Justice or the federal prison administration, and no account of what the signed conditions actually require. Neither the number nor the timing has been confirmed by any authority, and it is not known what happens to those who declined to sign.

Sources: Tikvah Ethiopia, 27 September 2026