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<\/p>\nThe Ethiopian marathoner who flashed an anti government gesture as he crossed the finish line in second place at the Rio Olympics will not go home.<\/p>\n
The runner,\u00a0Feyisa<\/a>\u00a0Lilesa<\/a>, will not fly back to\u00a0Ethiopia<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday with the rest of his team, his agent said, choosing instead to remain in Brazil with his immigration status unclear.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t plan at all for this,\u201d said Mr. Lilesa\u2019s agent, Federico Rosa, speaking by telephone from Brescia, Italy. “He doesn\u2019t want to go to Ethiopia, he wants to go to another country. The U.S. would be very good but right now we just don\u2019t know where he\u2019s going to go. He was very happy after winning but also a bit confused.\u201d<\/p>\n By raising his arms and crossing them in an X in front of his face as he crossed the finish line Sunday, Mr. Lilesa, 26, has crossed the Ethiopian government, one of the most repressive in Africa.<\/p>\n His gesture, which he repeated during an award ceremony on Sunday after the race, was the most visible in\u00a0a growing w<\/a>ave\u00a0<\/a>of protests<\/a>\u00a0in recent months against Ethiopia\u2019s government. This unusual burst of protests has erupted across Ethiopia, especially in Oromia, the region from which Mr. Lilesa hails, and where the gesture of raised arms crossed in front of one\u2019s face has become a sign of defiance.<\/p>\n Tens of thousands of protesters have been jailed and\u00a0hundreds<\/a>\u00a0have been killed<\/a>, according to Human Rights Watch. Mr. Lilesa said in interviews after his race that he believed that if he were to return home, he, too, would be punished. The Ethiopian government has said he has nothing to worry about and that he would be treated like a hero upon his return.<\/p>\n