Hailu Kebede () is foreign affairs head of Salsay Weyane Tigray, an opposition party in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.Associated Press, 11 February: 'We'll be left without families': Fear in Ethiopia's Tigray Native from Togogwa, he publicly denounced the Togogwa bombing during the Tigray War and alerted the international mediaBBC, 29 June 2021: Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: What happened the day a bomb hit a market Hailu Kebede was arrested in Addis Ababa by the Ethiopian authorities on 13 August 2021.VoA Tigrigna, 17 August 2021:ላዕለዋይ ኣባል መሪሕነት ሳልሳይ ወያነ ብርክት ዝበሉ ክስታት ተመስሪቱዎ (trans:If you do not find what you are looking for then just ask) He is as a political prisoner .Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 200 – 16 August 2021 Europe External Programme with Africa
Professional life Hailu Kebede is also a civil engineer who manages a construction company.
Politics Hailu Kebede is foreign affairs head of Salsay Weyane Tigray.VoA Tigrinya, 7 January 2020: ብምምራፅን ፕሮግራም እቲ ውድብ ብምፅዳቕ ዛዚሙ (trans:If I clean up the program, I will clean up)
2020-2021 Tigray War At the start of the 2020-2021 Tigray War, Hailu was hiding on the outskirts of the Tigray capital, Mekele, listening to bombardment and gunfire.CBC News, 2 July 2021: "As it happens" – episode transcript Later during the war, he was very vocal about war crimes: jointly with his fellow party members, they collected data from witnesses of killings of civilians he publicly denounced the Togogwa bombing and alerted the international media, he witnessed the euphoria in Mekelle when the town was liberated from Ethiopian soldiers he called for negotiations, and investigations into the looting and the massacres he briefed diplomats and others about the warAssociated Press, 18 August 2021: New wave of Ethiopian detentions of Tigrayans includes kids
Arrest
Hailu Kebede was arrested in Addis Ababa by the Ethiopian authorities on 13 August 2021. , he remains in jail. The charges are: having cast his vote in the 2020 Tigray regional election, reporting ("misinforming") about the Togogwa airstrike, and participation in the Tigray War. In an interview, one month before his arrestation, Hailu said that he did not feel safe in Addis Ababa, but he insisted that he wanted the plight of the Tigrayan people to be known to the world.
On 18 August 2021, his court appearance was delayed; according to his friends, Hailu was kept in prison in order to avoid US envoy Jeffrey Feltman meeting him.
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