On the final day of the 2016 Rio Olympics (21 August), as he was crossing the finish line of the Men's Marathon and winning his silver medal, he raised his arms in a gesture of solidarity with protestors against the killing of the Oromo people in his native Ethiopia.

[4] After the resignation of Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in March 2018, his successor Abiy Ahmed encouraged Feyisa to return home to his country in October 2018, ending his two-year exile.

However, this time only brought him fourth place in Rotterdam as the competition was one of the strongest ever—podium finishers Patrick Makau, Geoffrey Mutai, and Vincent Kipruto all moved into the top-10 all-time fastest marathon runners.

[14] Feyisa Lilesa was among the earlier front runners of the Delhi Half Marathon the following month, but eventually finished in fifth place.

[15] He was part of the silver medal-winning Ethiopian team at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where he finished in seventeenth place.

[26][27] Feyisa won the national cross country title at the Jan Meda International, earning selection for the global race.

[28] At the 2016 Summer Olympics, at which he won the silver medal in the Marathon, he crossed his wrists as a sign of support for his Oromo people who face relocation under a government program to allocate land surrounding the capital for industrial development, that prompted fierce demonstrations in November 2015 that lasted for months.

[29][30][31] At a press conference held in Washington, D.C., on 14 September 2016, Feyisa urged the international community, particularly the United States which is an ally of Ethiopia, to put pressure on the Ethiopian government to give the people their rights lest an ethnic conflict follow the recent wave of protests.