Eskinder Nega is an Ethiopian journalist serving 18 year sentence in Ethiopia’s Kaliti Prison. Amnesty International UK’s online petition ‘HELP GET ESKINDER HOME’, has so far been signed by over 7000 people of its 10,000 targets.

Please Click HERE and sign the petition yourself.

New York, November 5, 2013–Ethiopian police have arrested without charge two editors of the leading independent Amharic weekly Ethio-Mihdar, according to local journalists.

Police in the town of Legetafo, northeast of the capital Addis Ababa, on Monday arrested Getachew Worku in connection a story published in October alleging corruption in the town administration, according to Muluken Tesfaw, a reporter with the paper, who spoke to Getachew shortly after his arrest. Getachew has not been charged, he said.

September 17, 2013

Detained Ethiopian journalists Reeyot Alemu and Eskinder Nega  have been nominated for Sakharov Prize, European Parliament said. Edward Snowden is also among the seven nominees. 

The EU press release read “Reeyot Alemu and Eskinder Nega were nominated by Ana Maria Gomes (S&D, PT) and 40 other MEPs” and added,

 These Ethiopian journalists are serving prison terms on terrorism charges. Ms Alemu was sentenced in January 2012 after writing columns critical of the government, and Mr Nega was sentenced six months later, after criticizing the prosecution of journalists and dissidents in Ethiopia and writing about how an Arab Spring-like democracy movement might arise there. “

Considered as one of the highest recognitions for human rights work, previous Sakharov prize winners include people like Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela.

The  16-year-old Malala, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban assassination attempt last year has been nominated by three caucuses.

Other nominees for the Sakharov prize this year include jailed former Russian oligarch and declared foe of Putin – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Belarus political prisoners Ales Belyatsky, Eduard Lobau and Mykola Statkevich.

The CNN Freedom Project, a global media campaign for raising awareness on human trafficking is also nominated for the Sakharov prize this year.

The prize winner is expected to be declared on October 10.

Read More here.

September 14, 2013

Ethiopian educator, journalist and human rights activist Reeyot Alemu, who is now serving a five year sentence in Kaliti Prison in Addis Abeba, has entered her fifth day of hunger strike. Reeyot started the strike opposing abuses in prison and specially after prison officials delimited the number of people she can be visited by.

Reeyot’s younger sister, Eskedar Alemu, stated on her Facebook today that Reeyot has told her mother that if others (her sisters, fiance and her other visitors) are not allowed to visit her, she prefers not to even be visited by her own parents who at the moment are the only people the Prison officials allow her to be see. Eskedar also stated that she was told by the Prison officials that they can not talk with them before Tuesday.

Get more information on same from our previous days reports HERE.

Following the orders of Kaliti Prison authorities yesterday that Journalist and educator Reeyot Alemu could only be visited by her parents and a religious Father, Reey0t has kicked off a hunger strike.

Her younger sister, Eskedar Alemu wrote on her Facebook wall that  Reeyot Alemu is finding herself in an extremely difficult predicament in Kaliti prison.

Eskedar said in her Note that the Head of Female Prisoners’ Rooms of the Prison known as Aminazer has been abusive to Reeyot and her visitors.  And now, Colonel Haymanot Tesfaye, an ex-rebel and official of the TPLF, who was recently arrested following her husband, Gebrewahed Woldegiorgis (former Deputy Director of Customs and Revenue Authority and TPLF member) on corruption charges,  has been placed in the same room with Reeyot and was given a bed next to Reeyot. Colonel Haymanot has been insulting and threatening Reeyot the whole night. Reeyot and her families now fear for Reeyot’s “life and safety”.

A profile about Reeyot on IWMF Website narrates “Reeyot Alemu has been imprisoned in Ethiopia for more than a year, branded as a terrorist. She is one of many journalists who have been arrested, interrogated and threatened in her country. What makes Alemu exceptional are her commitment to work for independent media when the prospect of doing so became increasingly dangerous, her refusal to self-censor in a place where that practice is standard, and her unwillingness to apologize for truth-telling, even though contrition could win her freedom. In jail, Alemu was offered clemency if she agreed to testify against journalist colleagues. She refused and was sent to solitary confinement for 13 days as punishment for her failure to cooperate. She is currently being kept at Kality prison, which is known for its filthy conditions. Recently, she has fallen ill; in April of this year she underwent surgery at nearby hospital to remove a tumor from her breast, after which she was returned to jail with no recovery time.”

She was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined 33,000 birrs (about $1,850) which in August 2012 an appeals court later reduced the 14-year prison sentence to 5 years.

Reeyot Alemu won the 2013 UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

The following Note is copied from Eskedar Alemu, Reeyot’s younger sister’s FB wall.

የርዕዮት ደህንነት አደጋ ላይ መሆኑን እንድታዉቁት ስል ነዉ ይህንን በብዙ ሀዘን ዉስጥ ሆኜ የጻፍኩላችሁ
ትላንትና እንደሁል ጊዜዉ ስንቅ ይዤላት ወደ ቃሊቲ ሔድኩ በር ላይ ያለዉ ፖሊስ “የርዕዮት እህት ነሽ አይደል እሱዋን መጠየቅ አትችይም በአስተዳደር በኩል ሔደሽ ጠይቂ” አለኝ፡፡ እንዳዘዘኝ በአስተዳደር በር በኩል ሔድኩ ወደ ዉስጥ በስንት ትግል ከስለሺ (የርዕዮት እጮኛ) ጋር ገባን፡፡
ከብዙ ጥበቃ በሁዋላ በብዙ ፖሊሶች ታጅባ መጣች ፊትዋ ተለዋዉጦ ስለነበር ምን እንደሆነች ስጠይቃት ከእናት፡ አባት እና ንስሃ አባት ዉጪ ማንም ሊጠይቃት እንደማይችል እና የእነሱን ስም እንድትሰጥ እንደተጠየቀች እና አሚናዘር የሚትባል የሴቶች ክፍል ሀላፊ አልጋዋ ድረስ በመምጣት እንደሰደበቻትና እንደዛተችባት እየነገረችኝ እያለ አሚናዘር የተባለችዉ ሃላፊ ወደኛ በመምጣት ርዕዮትን በማመናጨቅና በመስደብ ከኛ ልትወስዳት ስትሞክር ለምን እንደሆነ ስጠይቃት “ከዛሬ ወዲህ ዐይኑዋን አታዩትም ማንም እኔን ሊያዝ አይችልም የእናንተ ጋዜጣና ሚዲያ ምን እንደሚያመጣ እናያለን ” በማለት ርዕዮትን በማዋከብ እና በመጎተት እየሰደቡ ወሰዱዋት፡፡ ምድር ላይያሉ ሰቅጣጭ እና ለህሊና የሚከብዱ ስድቦችን አወረዱብን በዚህ መሀል ርዕዮት ድምጹዋን ከፍ አርጋ “የማልጨርሰዉን ነገር አልጀምርም እኔን ለማንበርከክ እና ለማሸማቀቅ ክሆነ መቼም አላረገዉም ትገይኝም ከሆነ ነይ ተኩሺ ” ስትል ጎትተዉ ወሰዱዋት፡፡ እኛንም ከጊቢዉ አዋክበዉ አስወጡን፡፡

ዛሬ በዐል ስለሆነ ምን አልባት ሊያስገቡን ይችላሉ ብለን ነበር ሁላችንም ወደ ቃሊቲ የሔድነዉ፡፡ የሆነዉ ግን በጣም አሳዛኝ ነበር፡፡ በር ላይ ደርሰን ስንጠይቅ (ቤተሰቦችዋና ጓደኞችዋ) አሚናዘር ላስፈቅድ ብላ በር ላይ ያለችዉ ፖሊስ ወደ ዉሰጥ ገባች ትንሽ ቆየት ብላ ተመለሰችና አባትና እናት ብቻ ነዉ የሚገቡት ያልችዉ አሚናዘር ብላ እኔና ስለሺ ጓደኞችዋንም ጨምሮ መግባት እንደማንችል ተነገረን የዚን ጊዜ አባታችን “የእነሱን ህገወጥ ስራ እንደማይተባበር እና እኛ ተከልክለን እሱ እንደማይገባ ነገራቸዉ” እናታችን እንድትገባና ሁኔታዋን አይታ እንድትነግረን የያዝነዉን ምግብ ይዛ ገባች፡፡ በጣም በሀዘን የያዘችዉን ምግብ ይዛ ተመለሰች ምነዉ ስንላት ርዕዮት የርሃብ አድማ እንዳደረገች እና ቤተሰብ የማይገባላት ከሆነ አድማዉን እንደምትቀጥል እንደነገረቻት እናም በጣም ያስደነገጠንን ዜና ነገረችን “አጠገቡዋ ኮ/ል ሐይማኖት (የ ገብሩዋድ ባለቤት) እንዳመጡዋትና የርዕዮትን አልጋ በማስጠጋት እሱዋነ ከጎንዋ አድረገዋት እሱዋም ሙሉ ለሊት እየሰደበቻትና እየዛተች እንዳሳደረቻት ህይወትዋ አደጋ ላይ መሆኑን አንድ ነገር ቢፈጠር በህመም እንዳልሆነ እንድታዉቁት እኔ ባልፍም እንኩዋን ሺህ ርዕዮቶች ስላሉ በርቱ አትደናገጡ” የሚል መልእክት ነገረችን፡፡

አስረዉ ሲያበቁ እንኳን ምነዉ ቢተዋት? በዚህ ከቀጠለ እህቴን ነገ ለማግኘቴ ምን ያህል እርግጠኛ እንደምሆን አላዉቅም!!!!!
ሉሉዬ የሚታልፊበት መከራሽን አምላክ ይይልሽ!!!!