Ethiopia released five journalists detained for more than a year shortly before the visit of U.S. President, Barack Obama, local media reports on Thursday have said.

The two online journalists and three other mainstream newsmen had been held on terrorism-related charges since late April 2014.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said all charges against them were dropped.

Obama is due to visit Ethiopia on July 27 after two days in Kenya.

He had come under criticism over visiting a country with a poor human rights record with Washington Post saying that the visit “sends the wrong message on democracy.”

With no fewer than 12 journalists still in prison, Ethiopia is the second-worst jailer of journalists in Africa after Eritrea, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.