Besu Sado

Besu Sado was an Ethiopian middle-distance runner who competed in the 1,500 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics and at the World Championships in 2015 and 2017. She placed second in the 1,500 at the 2015 African Games.

In 2015 she married Teshale Tamru, a former athlete, and they lived together on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. In August 2022 Tamru was at home sitting in his living room when several individuals came into the house and murdered him, hitting him with metal objects and stabbing him. According to the attorney general of Sandafa City Administration, Tamru died immediately, and the assailants took his dead body and threw it on the road.

It was reported that five people were involved in the murder, including Besu Sado, two of her brothers, and two suspects from Shashemene City. One brother and the two suspects from Shashemene City escaped and, as of March 2023, have not been found or officially charged with the murder. When asked why she had her husband killed, Sado said, “He sabotaged and did witchcraft on my family, my mother, my brothers, and me [so] that we failed to succeed.” On 9 January 2023, after a trial, the High Supreme Court gave Sado and her brother life sentences in prison.