Nationality Ethiopian Role Blogger Name Eskinder Nega | Years active 1993-2011 Occupation Journalist Spouse Serkalem Fasil | |
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Children Nafkot (son), born 2005 Awards PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Similar People Serkalem Fasil, Salman Rushdie, Peter Godwin, Barack Obama, Philip Levine | ||
Eskinder nega recipient of the 2012 pen barbara goldsmith freedom to write award
Eskinder Nega (Ge'ez: እስክንድር ነጋ, born c. 1968) is an Ethiopian journalist and blogger who has been jailed seven times by the Ethiopian government on convictions for treason and terrorism. In 2012, he was awarded PEN America's Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write prize.
Contents
- Eskinder nega recipient of the 2012 pen barbara goldsmith freedom to write award
- Mesfin negash talks about eskinder nega and his journalistic work
- Early life
- Career
- 2005 treason conviction
- 2012 terrorism conviction
- Awards
- Mesfin negash talks on eskinder nega and private media in ethiopia
- References
Mesfin negash talks about eskinder nega and his journalistic work
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. They eventually divorced and his mother, with whom Nega lived, opened a clinic. Nega attended Sanford School in Addis Ababa. Nega moved to the United States in 1980s where he attended high school, then studied political science and economics at American University.
Career
Nega returned to Ethiopia in 1991 after the Marxist Derg was ousted by EPRDF forces. He founded his first newspaper, Ethiopis, in 1993.
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". 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.
Nega was found guilty and served seventeen months' imprisonment before being released by presidential pardon at the end of 2007. Following the conviction, Nega's license to practice journalism was revoked and his newspaper was closed by authorities in 2007. He instead he began to publish online.
2012 terrorism conviction
Eskinder was arrested again 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. Ethiopian anti-terrorism legislation prohibits "any reporting deemed to 'encourage' or 'provide moral support' to groups and causes the government deems 'terrorists'.
Along with four politicians arrested the same day, Nega was accused of involvement in Ginbot 7, a group recently added to Ethiopia's list of terrorist organizations. In November, he and his co-defendants were accused by state media of being "spies for foreign forces". Nega was found guilty of terrorism charges on 23 January 2012. On July 13, 2012 journalist and blogger Eskinder has been sentenced to 18 years in jail for violating the country's anti-terrorism legislation.
A U.N. panel found that Nega's imprisonment was "a result of his peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression," according to a report published in April 2013.[1]
After delaying a decision on seven occasions, Ethiopia’s Supreme Court upheld Nega's 18-year sentence on May 1, 2013. [2]
On July 24, 2013: Nega's "Letter from Ethiopia’s Gulag" published as New York Times op-ed.
Awards
2017 International Press Institute (IPI)’s 69th World Press Freedom Hero. 2014 Golden Pen of Freedom Awarded to Nega [3] May 1, 2012, PEN honored Eskinder with the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award