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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Befeqadu Hailu Techanie also written as Befekadu Hailu Techane (Amharic: በፍቃዱ ኃይሉ; born 19 February 1980) is an Ethiopian writer, activist, and blogger. He is a member of the Zone 9 bloggers group that were arrested in April 2014 due to their blogging activities. Befekadu is now released on bail and is defending himself before court on a downgraded charge of 'inciting violence through writing'.
His novel, Children of their Parents (2013), won third place in the 2012 Burt Award for African Literature.[1] In 2015, along with the other Zone 9 bloggers, he was awarded the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists.[2]
Befekadu was born on February 19, 1980, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[3] He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and Information Systems from Zegha Business College in 2006 and worked as an MIS Expert at St. Mary's University College.[3] Since 2009, he has worked as a journalist for various publications and at one point served as Managing Editor for Enqu, a prominent Ethiopian magazine.[4][5]
Befekadu also writes poetry and has published poetry compilations online.
Befekadu first began blogging on his personal blog, The Q Perspective, where he wrote about socio-political issues in Ethiopia. He later became one of the founding members of Zone 9, a collective of bloggers sharing commentary about political repression and social injustice in Ethiopia.[6] Befekadu is also a member of Global Voices Online, an international network of bloggers and translators.[7]
In 2019, Befekadu and his fellows founded the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy,[8] a non-governmental, non-profit civil society organization following the legal reform[9] for civil society organizations in Ethiopia.
Due to his activities as part of the Zone 9 group, Befekadu was arrested on April 25, 2014, and charged with terrorism.[10][11] Specifically, he was charged with violating Article 4 of the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation as well as various other laws.[12] The government accused Befekadu of being a leader of a terrorist enterprise and inciting violence. They also accused him of collaborating with Ginbot 7, a banned political party that the government has labelled a terrorist organization.[12] At his hearing, Befekadu stated that he was forced to make false confessions.[13] On 21 October 2015, Befekadu was acquitted of terrorism charges and released on bail of 20,000 ETB (est. equivalent of US$1,000) to defend himself before court, to be cleared of downgraded charges of 'inciting violence through writing'.
Befekadu was re-arrested on November 10, 2016, after giving an interview for Voice of America's Amharic Service about Ethiopia's state of emergency.[14] He was subsequently released in December, along with thousands of other political prisoners detained during the state of emergency.[15]
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