Eskinder Nega

Eskinder Nega
እስክንድር ነጋ
Born c. 1968
Nationality Ethiopian
Alma mater American University
Occupation Journalist
Years active 1993–2011
Spouse(s) Serkalem Fasil

Eskinder Nega (Ge'ez: እስክንድር ነጋ, born c. 1968[1]) is an Ethiopian journalist and blogger who has been jailed seven times by the Ethiopian government on convictions for treason and terrorism.[2]

Early life

Nega was born to highly educated parents, his father having done graduate work at Rutgers University and his mother at the American University of Beirut.[3] They eventually divorced and his mother, with whom Nega lived, opened a clinic.[3] Nega attended Sanford School in Addis Ababa. Nega moved to the United States in 1980s where he attended high school,[4] then studied political science and economics at American University.[5][6]

Career

Nega returned to Ethiopia in 1991 after the Marxist Derg was ousted by EPRDF forces.[4] He founded his first newspaper, Ethiopis, in 1993.[7]

2005 treason conviction

As editor of the newspaper Satenaw, Nega was arrested on 28 November 2005 following demonstrations against the results of the Ethiopian general election on 15 May 2005. Nega was charged with the capital offenses of treason, "outrages against the Constitution" and "incitement to armed conspiracy".[1] Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience, "detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression", and called for his immediate release. The group also protested the "poor and unsanitary" conditions of his detention at Karchele prison.[1]

Nega was found guilty and served seventeen months' imprisonment before being released by presidential pardon at the end of 2007.[8] Following the conviction, Nega's license to practice journalism was revoked[7] and his newspaper was closed by authorities in 2007.[4] He instead he began to publish online.[4]

2012 terrorism conviction

Eskinder was arrested again along with four politicians on 14 September 2011 after publishing a column that criticized both the Ethiopian government's detainment of journalists as suspected terrorists and its arrest of Ethiopian actor and activist Debebe Eshetu.[2] Ethiopian anti-terrorism legislation prohibits "any reporting deemed to 'encourage' or 'provide moral support' to groups and causes the government deems 'terrorists'.[7]

Nega and his co-defendants, including Andualem Aragie, were accused of involvement in Ginbot 7, a group that was recently added to Ethiopia's list of terrorist organizations.[8] In November, he and his co-defendants were accused by state media of being "spies for foreign forces".[7] Nega was found guilty of terrorism charges on 23 January 2012.[7] On July 13, 2012, Nega was sentenced to 18 years in jail on charges of terrorism.[9] In 2013, a UN panel found Nega's jailing a violation of international law.[10]

After delaying a decision on seven occasions, Ethiopia’s Supreme Court upheld Nega's 18-year sentence on May 1, 2013.[11]

On July 24, 2013, Nega's "Letter from Ethiopia’s Gulag" was published as a New York Times op-ed.[12]

In January 2018, the prison holding Nega was announced to be shut down, with political prisoners freed in order to "foster national reconciliation".[13] Nega was only allowed freedom if he signed a confession saying that he was a member of the Ginbot 7 group designated terrorists by the federal government; but Nega refused, saying that it was a false confession.[14]

Eskinder Nega was freed on February 14, 2018, along with several other political prisoners. [15]

Awards and honors

References

  1. 1 2 3 "UA 214/06 Fear of Torture / Ill-treatment/ harsh prison conditions/ prisoner of conscience". Amnesty International. 7 August 2006. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "Jailed Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega honoured". BBC News. 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  3. 1 2 Nega, Eskinder (March 17, 2014). "Letter to My Son" (PDF). www.wan-ifra.org. Kaliti Prison, Addis Ababa. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 J. David Goodman (2 May 2012). "Imprisoned Ethiopian Journalist Is Honored With PEN Award". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  5. ↑ Constable, Pamela (August 5, 2012). "Journalist jailed in Ethiopiais championed in D.C., abroad". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  6. ↑ Hunter-Gault, Charlayne (July 17, 2012). "The Dangerous Case of Eskinder Nega". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Peter James Spielmann (2 May 2012). "PEN honors jailed Ethiopian journalist". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 31 August 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  8. 1 2 "Ethiopia must end crackdown on government critics". Amnesty International. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "Ethiopian blogger Eskinder Nega jailed for 18 years". BBC News. July 13, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  10. ↑ Tom Rhodes (April 5, 2013). "UN panel: Eskinder Nega jailing violates international law". Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Eskinder Nega's 18-year sentence upheld, four other journalists remain imprisoned under antiterrorism law". PEN International. May 13, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-09-20.
  12. ↑ Nega, Eskinder (2013-07-24). "Letter From Ethiopia's Gulag". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  13. ↑ Aaron Maasho (January 3, 2018). "Ethiopia to free jailed politicians to "foster national reconciliation" – PM". Reuters.
  14. ↑ Danny O'Brien (February 12, 2018). "Imprisoned Blogger Eskinder Nega Won't Sign a False Confession". Electronic Frontier Foundation.
  15. ↑ "Eskinder Nega Freed After 7 Years". Africa News.
  16. ↑ "2014 Golden Pen of Freedom Awarded to Eskinder Nega of Ethiopia". World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. June 9, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Ethiopia's Eskinder Nega named IPI Press Freedom Hero". International Press Institute. April 25, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Writers Eskinder Nega and Milagros Socorro receive the 2018 Oxfam Novib/PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression". PEN International. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018.


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