Banned Journalist, Blogger, Facing Death Penalty in Ethiopia
Political Prisoner in Ethiopia since Sept. 14, 2011
Banned Journalist, Political Prisoner
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-Dissident blogger Eskinder Nega faces the death penalty in Ethiopia. One of the country’s few independent journalists, he’s currently held in Kaliti prison near the capital Addis Ababa. Human rights groups say he is at risk of torture.
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-May 1, 2012: Eskinder is awarded the PEN American Center Freedom to Write/Barbara Goldsmith award at a ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Eskinder’s wife Serkalem accepts on his behalf.
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-Nov. 10, 2011: Eskinder is charged with “plotting terrorist acts to create public chaos” along with 23 other defendants, including opposition leaders. One of his co-defendants, Natnael Mekonnen, tells the court he has been physically and psychologically abused in prison.
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-Sept. 14, 2011: Arrested after publishing online column calling for greater political freedoms in Ethiopia. The government has accused him of links to Ginbot 7, a banned opposition group.
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-Feb. 17, 2011: Briefly detained and warned by Ethiopian federal police after writing a column urging the military not to shoot unarmed protesters should ‘Arab Spring’ style democracy protests spread to Ethiopia.
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-May 23, 2010: Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling party and its allies win 99.6 percent of the seats in parliament. Opposition parties and human rights groups accuse the government of widespread harassment and intimidation.
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-March 8, 2010: Ethiopia’s Supreme Court imposes heavy fines Serkalem Publishing, a defunct newspaper publishing house co-owned by Eskinder and his wife Serkalem, and three other publishers closed in the aftermath of the country’s 2005 elections.
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-April 9, 2007: Eskinder and wife Serkalem released after 17 months in prison along with six other editors after they were acquitted of treason charges for their coverage of the 2005 poll.
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-June 2006: Eskinder’s wife Serkalem gives birth to a baby boy, Nafkot, while she and Eskinder are in prison on treason charges. Though he is born prematurely, officials at the government hospital deny him access to an incubator because neither parent can sign a consent form.
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-November 2005: Eskinder and wife Serkalem Fasil are among more than a dozen journalists arrested in the wake of election unrest, in which the ruling party claimed victory amidst allegations of fraud. Security forces kill at least 193 people following demonstrations in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Prisoner of Conscience
Recipient of the 2012 PEN/American Center Freedom to Write/Barbara Goldsmith Award
Eskinder Nega is a prominent Ethiopian journalist facing the death penalty after being arrested in September of 2011 under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009. Just prior to his detention, Eskinder had published an online column critical of the use of the terrorism law to silence dissent and calling for the Ethiopian government to respect freedom of expression and end torture in the country’s prisons.
“Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries. Inevitably freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia.”
-Eskinder Nega, Sept. 9, 2011, five days before
his arrest.
Human Rights Groups Speak Out About Eskinder
“Ethiopia Must End Crackdown on Government Critics.”
“The Ethiopian Government is Exploiting Its Vaguely Worded Anti-Terror Law to Crush Peaceful Dissent.”
Committee to Protect Journalists:
“Two Ethiopian Journalists Detained on Terror Charges.”
International Federation of Journalists:
“IFJ Backs Global Call for Dismissal of Terror Charges Against Journalists in Ethiopia.”
“IPI Condemns Journalist Convictions in Ethiopia: Anti-Terror Legislation Used to Repress the Media.”
“Anti-Terror Law Denounced As A Serious Challenge for the Media.”
“Ethiopia: Two More Journalists Arrested Under Anti-Terrorism Legislation; Fears of Torture.”
Leading Press, Human Rights Advocates Call for U.S. Action Over Jailed Ethiopian Journalist in N.Y. Review
Dec. 23
Letters
On September 14, 2011, Eskinder Nega, an Ethiopian journalist and dissident blogger, was arrested by the Ethiopian authorities shortly after publishing an online column calling for an end to torture in Ethiopian prisons, a halt to the imprisonment of dissidents, and respect for freedom of expression. The charges against him are punishable by death, and carry a minimum sentence of fifteen years in prison,1 where both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch warn that he is at risk of torture.
Read entire text of letter here.
Co-authors include:
William Easterly
Professor of Economics
New York University
Mark Hamrick
President
National Press Club
Aryeh Neier
President
Open Society Foundations
Kenneth Roth
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch
Joel Simon
Executive Director
Committee to Protect Journalists
UN Human Rights Experts Criticize Ethiopia’s Use of Anti-Terror Laws
Feb. 2
United Nations
The Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, emphasized that “journalists, bloggers and others advocating for increased respect for human rights should not be subject to pressure for the mere fact that their views are not in alignment with those of the Government.”
She voiced concern at the case of Eskinder Nega, a blogger and human rights defender who may face the death penalty if convicted. Mr. Nega has been advocating for reform on the issue of the right to assemble peacefully in public.
Ethiopian Terrorism Trial Hears Journalist Defendant
Voice of America
March 28, 2012
Peter Heinlein
A dissident Ethiopian journalist on trial for terrorism has categorically denied the charges and warned the court that history would judge its verdict.
A three-judge panel listened Wednesday as journalist Eskinder Nega described himself as a prisoner of conscience and rejected accusations that he had conspired to overthrow the government through violence.
Eskinder is one of 24 defendants, including opposition politicians and several exiled journalists, charged with supporting Ginbot Seven, a political party the government has labelled a terrorist group. Lawyers say they could face the death penalty if convicted.
In a 20-minute presentation, Eskinder challenged the prosecution's case. He admitted writing and speaking about whether an Arab Spring-like movement might take root in Ethiopia, and calling for peaceful protests, but denied advocating violence or unconstitutional change.
IPI Again Condemns Terrorism Charges Against Ethiopian Journalists
International Press Institute
March 29
“We again call on the authorities to cease labelling critics as terrorists, which is an apparent attempt to silence real dissent and investigative reporting about the ruling party and the current government,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills. “All journalists currently in jail in Ethiopia should be freed immediately and officially cleared of all wrongdoing.”
Nega is among five journalists who have been jailed under anti-terror laws in Ethiopia over the past year. Woubshet Taye and Reyot Alemu were convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison this January, as were Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johann Persson, who were convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison after they were arrested last year in the company of rebels in the Ogaden region.
Blogger Fights Terror Charges as Ethiopian Leader Praised
Committee to Protect Journalists
April 3, 2012
Last week in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, while Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was making a speech about Africa's growth potential at an African Union forum, a journalist who his administration has locked away since September on bogus terrorism charges was presenting his defense before a judge. Eskinder Nega has been one of the most outspoken critics of Meles' domestic leadership over the past two decades and has suffered imprisonment, intimidation, and censorship for it.
Heroic Ethiopian Journalist Eskinder Nega Honored
PEN/American Center
May 2, 2012
New York City, May 2, 2012—Edward Albee, Margaret Atwood, E.L Doctorow, Zadie Smith, and Kwame Anthony Appiah were among the more than 500 PEN luminaries and supporters who joined last night in honoring Eskinder Nega, one of Ethiopia’s most courageous journalists and free expression advocates, with the 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award at its annual Literary Gala at the Museum of Natural History in New York. Nega is currently in prison and standing trial on manufactured terrorism charges, and could face the death penalty if convicted.
In the evening’s most dramatic moment, Nega’s wife Serkalem Fasil, who has been jailed herself for her journalism and who traveled from Addis Ababa and arrived in New York hours before the ceremony, said she was accepting the award on behalf of her husband “at a time when freedom of expression and press freedoms are at the lowest point in Ethiopia.”
Noting that “prison has been Eskinder’s home away from home for the past two decades,” she told the audience, “If Eskinder were standing here, he would accept this award not just as a personal honor, but on behalf of all Ethiopian journalists who toil under withering repression in Ethiopia today, those forced into exile over the years, those in prison with him now, and even those who serve in state media for no other reason than making a living.”
Links to coverage: Associated Press, BBC, NYT
IPI World Press Freedom Heroes Condemn Imprisonment of Ethiopian Journalist Eskinder Nega
International Press Institute
April 23, 2012
Twenty international journalists who have been recognised as World Press Freedom Heroes by the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) have condemned the Ethiopian government’s decision to jail Eskinder Nega and other journalists on terrorism charges, and called for their immediate release.
Eskinder Nega, an online writer and critic of the current Ethiopian government, was arrested in September 2011 and is accused of supporting terrorism, for which he could face the death penalty if convicted. He was jailed shortly after having criticized the government’s use of anti-terrorism laws to jail other journalists and opposition figures.
This is hardly Eskinder's first brush with the authorities – he and his wife, also a journalist, were jailed for 17 months on treason charges in the aftermath of the disputed 2005 elections. Their son was born in prison. Since then, Eskinder has been banned from journalism but has continued to speak out and write.
Ethiopia, which is set to host the World Economic Forum on Africa in May 2012, jailed Eskinder and four other journalists on anti-terrorism charges over the past year. Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the now-defunct Awramba Times, and Reyot Alemu of Feteh newspaper were convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison this January. In December, Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johann Persson were sentenced to 11 years in prison for aiding terrorists. They had been arrested last year in the company of rebels in the Ogaden region.
Last month, IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie called on United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to speak out against Ethiopia’s use of anti-terror laws to jail journalists, which IPI said "makes a mockery of the universal right to ‘hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’”
IPI noted that this practice also undermines “the fight against real terrorists, who use violence - and not words - to achieve their ends.”
Each of the men and women who signed this petition has been honoured for their contributions to freedom of the press in their home countries and around the world. Many have themselves been jailed for their work – indeed Turkish author and investigative reporter Nedim Şener’s battle against terrorism charges, believed by observers to be designed to silence him as a journalist, is not over yet.
National Press Club Urges Release of Ethiopian Journalist
May 10, 2012
National Press Club
The National Press Club voiced its strong concern May 10 over the imminent sentencing of imprisoned Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega, who is accused of violating the country’s draconian anti-terrorism law as a result of his high profile advocacy of press freedom.
A verdict could come as soon as Friday. There is the chance he could be sentenced to death or ordered to spend 15 to 20 years behind bars under Ethiopia’s 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.
“When other journalists fled the Ethiopian government’s crackdown on the press, Eskinder Nega stayed and he courageously used his Internet platform to bring much needed attention to government wrongdoing and abuse,” NPC President Theresa Warner said. “We call upon the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to promptly release Nega and to cease its authoritarian persecution of journalists.”
Link to NPC Statement.
Video: Serkalem Fasil, wife of Eskinder Nega, accepts 2012 PEN Freedom to Write/Barbara Goldsmith Award
May 1, 2012
American Museum of Natural History, New York
Press Freedom Lawyers File Landmark Legal Complaint Against Ethiopia At UN
Media Legal Defence Initiative
May 2, 2012
On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, MLDI will present a landmark complaint to UNESCO asking it to take action in a way it has never done before.
The complaint says that since an Anti-Terrorism Proclamation was made in 2009 at least 100 cases have been brought against independent journalists and other oppositional voices in the country. MLDI is asking UNESCO to declare this a systematic policy of violating the rights of journalists and to publicly hold the Ethiopian government to account.
MLDI has particularly documented the cases of 11 journalists who were charged with terrorist activities in 2011, including the journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega, who was recently awarded the PEN Freedom to Write award. Nearly all were arrested just after publishing articles critical of the government or while conducting journalistic investigations, and the “evidence” in their trials was simply what they had written or the material they had gathered for their work. Sentences have varied from 11 years in prison to life.
“These prosecutions amount to a systemic violation of the right to freedom of expression in Ethiopia, which is among the worst jailers of journalists in the world,” said MLDI chief executive, Peter Noorlander. “UNESCO has a specific mandate to protect this right and it is promoting a Plan of Action urging States to uphold it.”
Ethiopian Paper Fined For Coverage of Eskinder Nega Trial
Committee to Protect Journalists
May 4, 2012
An Ethiopian court has cited the editor of a leading independent newspaper for contempt after his paper published the verbatim courtroom statement made by the imprisoned journalist Eskinder Nega during his trial, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ruling, which illustrates the growing severity of censorship in Ethiopia.
IPI Condemns Ethiopia’s Ever-Widening Circles of Censorship
May 7
International Press Institute
By way of damage control, the authorities now appear to be tightening their hold on local media. Just days before a verdict is expected in the case against Ethiopian writer Eskinder Nega, another local editor was given a fine or prison sentence for his newspaper’s critical reporting of that trial.
Press Group Urges World Economic Forum Chief to Address Media Repression
May 8, 2012
International Press Institute
IPI today published an open letter to Klaus Schwab, Founder & Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, urging him to speak out on press freedom. The World Economic Forum on Africa is scheduled for May 9 to May 11, 2012 and will be held in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. Journalists are also being held in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Enigma
May 18, 2012
Ben Rawlence/Huffington Post
Mariam was painfully thin. Several of her 13 children peered out from behind her with hollow eyes. “I am trying to save my children. We are not living. We are subhuman,” she told me. Food aid was available in her village in southern Ethiopia. But not for her children. Her husband belonged to the wrong political party.
Mariam wanted me to tell the world that their aid dollars were being misused. In a 2010 report, “Development without Freedom,” we did. Yet the Ethiopian enigma is curious: the more repressive Ethiopia gets, the more aid it receives.
New York Times, The Guardian Highlight Prosecution of Eskinder Nega
The New York Times, May 10: Using Terror Charges to Stifle Independent Reporting
The Guardian, May 10: Ethiopian Journalist Faces Death Penalty
Fighting for Freedom of Speech in Ethiopia
The Root, Charlayne Hunter-Gault
May 15, 2012
Crying onstage in front of a crowd is not my thing, but a few days ago, as I stood next to Serkalem Fasil, I couldn’t hold back my tears. It was a bittersweet moment because Fasil had just received the prestigious PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award on behalf of her husband, Eskinder Nega.
Continue at The Root
