On December 11, 2021, journalist Maaza Mohammed was escorted from her home by police officers in Addis Ababa. She was released from detention yesterday. 

According to her husband, Robel Gebeyehu, who was there when she was ushered out, "They were not wearing uniforms, but they showed her their IDs."

Mohammed is the co-founder of the YouTube news channel Roha Media and had previously worked for Abbay Media.

She was arrested without any felony charges.

Gebeyehu said his wife was on her way to work when she was confronted by the men who took her, sharing, "We don't know where she was taken to." According to Gebeyehu, the police neither searched her residence nor provided explanations as to why she was arrested. 

Mohammed is one of over 30 prominent opposition figures whom the Ethiopian governments considered to have been among the perpetrators of the violence that broke out in the capital and in the state of Oromia following the death of Ethiopian singer and civil rights activist Hundessa on June 29, 2020. 

Over 200 people died during the unrest. 

Hundessa played a significant role in the 2014 - 2016 Oromo protests against the systematic marginalisation and persecution of ethnic Oromos.

The demonstrations led to Abiy Ahmed taking charge of the Oromo Democratic Party and Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, subsequently becoming prime minister of the country in 2018.

Prior to Mohammed's release yesterday, Tesfalem Tekle, a (Kenyan-based) Nation Media Group correspondent, was freed from custody on Sunday after 77 days in detention. 

The past few weeks have also seen Ermias Tesfaye, a journalist at the online Ethiopia Insight, and Abdusalam Hassen, formerly with the Oromo Media Network, walk free.

The release of opposition figures and government critics come with a potential view for Ahmed's administration to negotiate a ceasefire with the Tigray People's Liberation Front. 

Prime Minister Ahmed recently issued a statement hoping to reconcile through "peaceful and political means".