Banned Journalist Sentenced to 18 Years in Jail in Ethiopia
Political Prisoner in Ethiopia since Sept. 14, 2011
Life of a Banned Journalist
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-May 9, 2013: Eskinder pens letter from prison, concluding: “I will live to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It may or may not be a long wait. Whichever way events may go, I shall persevere!”
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-May 1, 2013: After delaying a decision on seven occasions, Ethiopia’s Supreme Court upholds Eskinder’s 18 year sentence.
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-Sept. 25, 2012: Court in Ethiopia orders “confiscation” of Eskinder’s house and his wife’s car as well as seizure of property belonging to other political prisoners and their families.
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-July 13, 2012: Eskinder sentenced to 18 years in prison.
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-June 27, 2012: A court in Ethiopia finds Eskinder and seven other journalists and opposition figures guilty on terrorism charges. A prosecutor recommends life in prison.
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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 sentenced to 18 years in prison July 13, 2012 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. He and 23 other journalists and opposition politicians were found guilty on terrorism charges June 27.
“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.
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:
Eskinder Nega, Ethiopian Journalist, Honored by PEN New York Times
PEN Honors Jailed Ethiopian Journalist Associated Press/Fox News
Jailed Ethiopian Journalist Eskinder Nega Honoured BBC
Ethiopia Convicts Eskinder Nega for “Terrorism”
June 27, 2012
The undersigned organizations strongly condemned the conviction of blogger and journalist Eskinder Nega on terrorism charges earlier today.
The conviction represents the criminalization of peaceful dissent in Ethiopia and is a clear violation of the rights to freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
Nega was found guilty of “participation in a terrorist organization” and “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of (a) terrorist act” and is facing life in prison.
Nega is the fifth journalist in Ethiopia to be jailed for terrorism-related crimes in the past six months. In April, he was awarded the prestigious 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, which honours writers that have been persecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Eskinder Nega has long been a thorn in the side of the Ethiopian government. He was jailed along with his wife and fellow journalist Serkalem Fasil for 17 months in the aftermath of Ethiopia’s disputed 2005 elections. Their son was born in prison. Their publishing house was closed and Nega has since been banned from journalism, but continued to write for online media and speak critically about the ruling party in Ethiopia.
Nega has been in jail since September 2011. He was arrested shortly after he criticized the government’s use of anti-terrorism laws to jail opposition figures and other journalists, including Woubshet Taye of the now-closed Awramba Times, Reyot Alemu of Feteh newspaper, and Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson, who were arrested while reporting on rebel activity in the Ogaden region. Schibbye, Persson, Alemu and Taye all received years-long prison sentences at the end of 2011 and in early 2012.
Amnesty International
Committee to Free Eskinder Nega
Committee to Protect Journalists
Freedom Now
Human Rights Watch
International Press Institute
Media Legal Defence Initiative
National Press Club
PEN American Center
World Association of Newspapers and Newspaper Publishers
Free Speech, Human Rights Activists Call for Nega’s Release
New York Review of Books
July 9, 2012 (Issue Date Aug. 16)
Five leading free speech and human rights activists called for the release of jailed Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega in a letter published in the current issue of the New York Review of Books. The leaders of the PEN American Center, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch co-authored the letter with developmental economist and author William Easterly and the Open Society Institute’s president emeritus Aryeh Neier.
Link to full letter at NYRB
International Coverage of Case
12/19 Ethiopian Journalist Fights Terrorism Charges VOA
12/19 Nega Among Hellmann/Hammett 2012 Winners HRW
12/18 16 European MPs Call for Nega Release The Guardian
12/11 Nega Case Highlighted in CPJ Global Report Wash. Post
12/11 Ethiopia “Criminalizing Journalism” The Guardian
12/11 Canadian MP Highlights Nega, Others Montreal Gazette
11/22 Ethiopia Delays Appeal of Blogger News24
11/18 Pulitzer Winner Bernstein to Read Nega at Protest BW
10/25 Imprisoned Ethiopian Reporter Wins Courage Prize CJR
10/10 US Urges Ethiopia to Democratize, Free Media State Dept.
10/9 29 Groups Call for New PM to Free Journalists Civicus
10/3 A Jailed Journalist Speaks Out The Root
9/27 Ethiopian PM Says Policies to Remain Constant VOA
9/25 Ethiopia Joins Bahrain, Pakistan in Stifling Internet Reuters
9/25 Mag Publishes ’11 Eskinder Letter to Meles Mantle Thought
9/23 Ethiopia To Take Jailed Journalist’s Property Africa Report
9/19 Vigil in D.C. Honors Ethiopian Blogger CPJ
9/14 Vigil for Eskinder Marks Anniversary DC Fest
9/14 Eskinder’s ‘Ethiopian Spring’ Republished Warscapes
9/10 CPJ Hails Pardon of Swedes, Calls to Free Others CPJ
9/10 In Korea, PEN Conference Recalls Eskinder Korea Herald
8/25 Zenawi’s Legacy and the Future of the Free Press CJR
8/24 Editor Who Covered Eskinder Trial Detained Amnesty
8/23 Journal Editors Say Eskinder Jailing a Blot on Meles WSJ
8/22 Ethiopian PM Dies, Will Press Freedom Live? The Root
8/21 What Happened to Journalists Under Meles’? GlobalPost
8/5 Journalist Jailed in Ethiopia Championed Washington Post
Global Updates on Eskinder’s Case
5/15 Kerry’s Ethiopia Opportunity WSJ
5/3 CPJ Calls on African Union to Defend Press Rights CPJ
5/3 Why We Still Need World Press Freedom Day PBS
5/3 Ethiopia: Terrorism Law Decimates Media HRW
5/2 State Dept. Slams Eskinder Verdict in Briefing State Dept.
5/2 U.S. Slams Ethiopia’s Political Persecution of Critics AFP
5/2 Politicized Verdict Undermines Ethiopia CPJ
5/2 Ethiopia Confirms Jail Term for Blogger AFP
4/1 UN Finds Nega’s Imprisonment “Arbitrary” Freedom Now
3/30 Prisoners of Conscience in Ethiopia Al Jazeera
3/6 Pulitzer Winner Kristof Praises Nega at Harvard YouTube
1/4 Swedish Reporter Recalls Christmas in Ethiopian Jail Blog
Actor Liev Schreiber and Pulitzer Winning Journalist Carl Bernstein Honor Eskinder Nega, Dec. 3, 2012. Public Theatre/PEN American
For Immediate Release
May 3, 2013
Ruling by Ethiopia's Supreme Court in Eskinder Nega Case Another Missed Opportunity
Today, Freedom Now, Amnesty International, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the Committee to Free Eskinder Nega, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, English PEN, the International Press Institute, the International Women’s Media Foundation, Media Legal Defence Initiative, the National Press Club, PEN American Center, PEN Canada, and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, condemned the decision by the Ethiopian Supreme Court upholding the 18-year sentence imposed against independent journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega.
"By upholding the sentence, the Ethiopian government has missed yet another opportunity to respect its freely undertaken obligations under international law,” the groups said. “This failure is particularly striking in light of today’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations."
Link to full release
Radio France: Story on Eskinder’s Appeal - May 2
Eskinder Nega and son Nafkot circa 2009.
May 15, 2013 -- WBEZ Chicago’s ‘Worldview’ Features Eskinder Nega
