A TikTok page with more than 12 thousand followers shared a video on Aug 9, 2023, claiming that it shows Christian Tadelle, a member of the House of People Representatives who had been detained, being released from detention.
The post had been shared 3439 times by the time this article was published.
Haqcheck inspected the video and confirmed that it doesn’t support the claim. As a result, the claim was rated False.
On April 6, 2023, the Ethiopian federal government announced plans to disarm regional special police forces. The government started to disband the regional paramilitary forces and gave the troops three choices to join: the military, regional police forces, or the federal police force.
The decision of the federal government to dissolve regional special police forces was met with widespread protests and resistance in the Amhara region.
Public protests erupted in opposition to this decision, leading to armed confrontations and clashes in the region. The Fano militants gained control of many areas, including major cities. In response, the Amhara regional government requested assistance from the federal government, prompting the declaration of a state of emergency by the Ethiopian parliament.
As the state of emergency was declared, the government arrested people, including politicians and opposition party leaders. Christian Tadelle, a former executive of the National Movement of Amhara (NaMA) and member of the House of People’s Representatives, was among those arrested.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, recently confirmed that Christian Tadelle was detained in Awash Arba.
Against this backdrop, a TikTok video came out claiming that Christian Tadelle was recently released from detention.
However, HaqCheck investigated the claim and confirmed that the video doesn’t support the claim. The original video was found to have been previously published on March 9, 2020, on the YouTube channel of Asrat Media. The video clip shows Christian Tadelle making a speech during a public discussion event.
Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post as False.