The authorities in Ethiopia have released leading opposition figures Jawar Mohammed, Bekele Gerba both from the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) and leader of the Balderas for Genuine Democracy Party Eskinder Nega.
The three opposition figures had spent one and half years in jail before they were freed on Friday.
It is not clear on what grounds the government released the opposition political party leaders who had been jailed for alleged crime of treason.
The charges against the political party leaders had related to a wave of ethnic unrest that followed the murder in June of popular musician Hachalu Hundessa.
Their release followed the establishment of the National Reconciliation Council and mediation by Oromo elders between the government and political prisoners.
None of them admitted guilt but blamed their imprisonment as politically motivated.
Eskinder, an Ethiopian journalist, blogger and politician has been jailed at least ten times by the government on convictions for treason and terrorism
Jawar was charged alongside 22 others and one media house.
It is not clear if the government released the other prisoners too.
More than 150 died in the violence after the ethnic Oromo performer was gunned down in Addis Ababa on June 29, 2020.
Meanwhile, the Addis Ababa Police Commission said it is releasing those individuals who were arrested for having alleged links with the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The commission on its official Facebook page said it also released ethnic Tigrayans who apologized for wrongdoing and renounced working with the TPLF.
MG/as/APA