This is the moment Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa made a political gesture as he crossed the finishing line in the Olympic marathon that he admits could see him killed.
Raising his arms over his head with his wrists crossed, he was making a gesture of support for members of his Oromo tribe who have been protesting at government plans to reallocate farmland.
Plans to allocate land surrounding the capital for development prompted fierce demonstrations in November last year and spread for months, in the country’s worst unrest in more than a decade.
Lilesa, explaining the gesture after winning the silver medal, said: “The Ethiopian government are killing the Oromo people and taking their land and resources so the Oromo people are protesting and I support the protest as I am Oromo.”
“The Ethiopian government is killing my people so I stand with all protests anywhere as Oromo is my tribe,” he continued.
“My relatives are in prison and if they talk about democratic rights they are killed. I raised my hands to support with the Oromo protest.
“If not kill me, they will put me in prison. I have not decided yet, but maybe I will move to another country.”
Ethiopia has long been one of the world’s poorest nations but has industrialised rapidly in the past decade.
However, reallocating land is a thorny issue for Ethiopians, many of whom are subsistence farmers.
Authorities scrapped the scheme in January, but protests flared again this month over the continued detention of opposition demonstrators.
Rights groups say hundreds have been killed.
The government disputes the figures and says illegal protests by “anti-peace forces” have been brought under control.
Any sign of unrest is closely watched in Ethiopia, a Western ally against Islamist militants in neighbouring Somalia and an economic power seen as a centre of relative stability in a fragile region.
