Befekadu Hailu

Hailu is one of the Zone 9 Bloggers, a group formed in 2012 to publish political commentary online in the face of tightening restrictions on expression. Following his initial arrest in 2014, he was acquitted of terrorism charges. On February 14, 2018, Ethiopian prosecutors dropped incitement charges against him and fellow blogger Natnail Feleke. The charges were dropped the same week that authorities released several other jailed journalists, including Eskinder Nega, signaling a broader, though limited, shift in press freedom conditions in the country at the time.