The past two weeks have been glorious days for Africans. EskinderNega, the heroic
Ethiopian journalist was honored with Pen America’s Barbara Goldsmith Freedom
to Write Award. The award honors writers throughout the world who have fought
courageously in the face of adversity for the right to freedom of expression.
Charles Taylor, warlord-turned-Liberian-president, was convicted of 11 counts
of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the U.N. Special Tribunal for
Sierra Leone. Yesterday ReeyotAlemu,
the young Ethiopian journalists, became the winner of the International Women’s
Media Foundation 2012 Courage in Journalism Award.
Reeyot, 31, is a teacher and
columnist for the independent Ethiopian newsweekly Feteh.
When she and her co-defendant WoubshetTaye were arrested in June 2011, they were accused of
plotting to sabotage telephone and electricity lines and held incommunicado. In
a June 17 column in Feteh, Reeyot
criticized Zenawi’s harebrained public fundraising
campaign for the so-called Grand Renaissance Dam on Abay
River project. That column seemed to have gotten Zenawi’s
goat. But Reeyot has been persistent in her
criticisms. She even had the audacity to nick Zenawi’s
scared cow, the half-baked so-called five-year growth and transformation plan.
In September, Reeyot and Woubshet
were charged with “conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and participation in a
terrorist organization” under MelesZenawi’scut-and-paste
anti-terrorism law.
The evidence against Reeyot in
kangaroo court consisted of intercepted emails and wiretapped telephone
conversations she had about peaceful protests and change with other
journalists. The so-called prosecution’s evidence of “conspiracy” consisted of Reeyot’s articles in Feteh and
other publications on the Ethiopian Review website on the activities of
opposition groups.
Reeyot and Woubshet
had no access to legal counsel during their three months in pretrial detention.
Both were denied counsel during interrogations. The kangaroo court refused to
investigate their allegations of torture, mistreatment and denial of medical
care in detention.
Regime mouthpiece Shimeles
Kemal blathered in interviews about Reeyot and Woubshet’s certain involvement in planning terrorist acts
while the case was pending in court. He seemed totally clueless of Art. 20 (3)
of the Ethiopian Constitution which guarantees: “During proceedings accused
persons have a right to be presumed innocent.” The kangaroo court sentenced Reeyot to a 14 year prison term and fined her birr 33,000.
As to the judgment of the kangaroo court, Amnesty
International was appalled: “There is no evidence that they are guilty of any
criminal wrongdoing. There is no evidence that they are guilty of any criminal
wrongdoing. We believe that they are prisoners of conscience, prosecuted
because of their legitimate criticism of the government. They must be released
immediately and unconditionally.” Human Rights Watch was confounded by the
idiocy of the charges: “According to the charge sheet, the evidence consisted
primarily of online articles critical of the government and telephone
discussions notably regarding peaceful protest actions that do not amount to
acts of terrorism. Furthermore, the descriptions of the charges in the initial
charge sheet did not contain even the basic elements of the crimes of which the
defendants are accused….”
In recognizing Reeyot for its
Courage in Journalism Award, the IWMF’s stated:
Women are grossly under-represented in journalism and the
media in Ethiopia. There are few Ethiopian journalists in Ethiopia (state
media), and even fewer in the independent media. Journalism in Ethiopia is
traditionally dominated by males and societal and cultural expectations
discourage women from choosing the field of journalism. Cultural stereotypes
are particularly discouraging to young women interested in journalism. The fact
that the Ethiopian Government pursues and persecutes courageous, brave and
professional women journalists does not bode well
particularly for young women who may be interested in journalism. As a result,
women’s voices (as reporters, editors, journalists, decision-making chambers)
are rarely heard and women’s issues are often relegated to secondary position.
Congratulations to Press Freedom Heroine ReeyotAlemu!
After her sentence, Reeyot’s
father, AtoAlemu, in an
interview said that his daughter will not apologize, seek a pardon or apply for
a clemency. “As a father, would you rather not advise your daughter to
apologize?” AtoAlemu
replied:
This is perhaps one of the most difficult questions a
parent can face. As any one of us who are parents would readily admit, there is
an innate biological chord that attaches us to our kids. We wish nothing but
the best for them. We try as much as humanly possible to keep them from harm….
Whether or not to beg for clemency is her right and
her decision. I would honor and respect whatever decision she makes… To answer
your specific question regarding my position on the issue by the fact of being
her father, I would rather have her not plead for clemency, for she has not
committed any crime.
When Zenawi jailed BirtukanMidekssa in December
2008, he emphatically and sadistically guaranteed that “there will never be an
agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever.Full stop. That’s a dead
issue.” No doubt Zenawi would like to make Reeyot, Eskinder, Woubshet, the Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson , the
193 unarmed protesters massacred in 2005…. a dead issue. But they shall live in
our hearts, in our spirits and even our souls, for they are freedom of
expression personified.
This past Monday I raised my pen to salute my hero EskinderNega. Today I rise up to
salute my heroine ReeyotAlemu.
In the face of the wicked enemies of press freedom, my cup runneth
over! Two home runs in one week! It just doesn’t get better than that!
