Feyisa Lilesa completed the marathon at the Rio Olympics with his arms raised in a gesture of defiance against the Ethiopian government. For many this was their first glimpse of the trouble brewing in this largely peaceful East African country.
But protests over land rights and political exclusion have been gathering momentum for almost a year, especially amongst the country’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo. A government crackdown has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 500 protesters.
Running from Ethiopia tells the story of Muaz, a student who fled Ethiopia after being detained and tortured by security forces, and Jawar, who runs a popular Oromo TV channel from exile in Minneapolis. Jawar’s channel closely followed the story of Muaz as he made the treacherous journey to Europe, only to be caught in one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks of 2016.
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