Abebe Gellaw
On November 7, 2015, journalist Serkalem Fasil posted a Facebook
reminder. It was her husband’s birthday. “Four years and two months have
passed since we physically separated,” she wrote.
“
No matter how long it takes, I will persevere and will never give up
hope with the help of Almighty God,’” she promised to her husband.
Sentenced to 18 years in jail on trumped-up terrorism charges in
Ethiopia, Eskinder Nega cannot read the note from his beloved wife.
The couple have been through hell together that she certainly feels
his presence and unbreakable spirit is with her at all times.
Journalist
Serkalem Fasil and Eskinder Nega proudly show off their son Nafkot and
Menelik, one of banned newspapers they used to publish in Ethiopia.
When Serkalem met Eskinder nearly two decades ago, she could not have
predicted the trials and tribulations awaiting them along their ways.
Eskinder is now serving 18 years behind bars for using pen and paper
and sharing powerful stories and his thoughts with his people.
Theirs is a touching story of true love that has endured constant
threats, attacks, prison, torture and exile spanning almost two decades.
Serkalem leads a challenging life as an exiled “single mom” in
Alexandria, Virginia, with their nine-year old son Nafkot, who was
condemned to be born in jail.
Her husband is languishing in Kaliti jail, which he referred to as
“Gulag” in a New York Times op-ed that he penned two years ago. After
that article was published and exposed the harsh realities behind bars,
he has been banned from having access to his lethal weapons, pen and
paper. He is not allowed to read anything–even his Bible, which was
confiscated by prison guards.
Charged with treason and “genocide”, Serkalem and Eskinder were among
a group of journalists falsely accused of causing turmoil during the
2005 national election. Unprepared to accept any electoral defeats , the
late Meles Zenawi declared a state of emergency and took personal
control of the armed forces. Security forces massacred hundreds of
unarmed peaceful protesters and injured almost 800 others. Scores of
opposition leaders, journalists, human rights activists and civic
leaders, along with some 30 thousand suspected supporters of opposition
parties, were also jailed.
They languished in vermin-ridden jails, where their son Nafkot was
born. Serkalem was denied prenatal care in prison under the orders of
Meles Zenawi. The couple were released after 18 months behind bars with
the condition that they “never write, never publish and never speak out
against injustice”.
Terrorist journalists
In many parts of the world, journalism is a very dangerous
profession. Whoever chooses to be a journalist ready to take on the
challenges of telling truth to power and exposing wrongdoings,
corruption, abuse of power or human rights violations knows the
exorbitant costs and sacrifices that must be paid at one point or
another.
In Ethiopia, journalism is not only dangerous but officially treated
as an act of “terrorism”. Most of the “terrorists” convicted and jailed
under Proclamation No. 652/2009, or the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, are
journalists and bloggers.
According to the latest CPJ’s data on exiled journalists, Ethiopia is
the second top source of exiled journalists in the world after Syria,
which took the top spot earlier this year. Fleeing from persecution and
torture chambers, hundreds of journalists and writers have left the
country and become hapless refugees and asylum seekers.
When Eskinder was denied permission to run his newspaper again, he
resorted to publishing a series of hard-hitting blogs and opinion pieces
online. In September 2011, he was arrested for the ninth times and
charged with terrorism offenses.
The evidence presented in the federal Kangaroo court by the regime’s
hack prosecutors was nothing but a collection of online stories and
articles he had previously published. The most “damning evidence” the
regime presented to prove Eskinder’s guilt was an opinion piece that
contended that something like the Arab Spring was inevitable in Ethiopia
unless the regime took serious political and economic reform measures.
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent
revolution inevitable,” he warned quoting President John F. Kennedy.
In another op-ed–General Tsadekan, the EPRDF and the North African
Revolution, he had revealed prior to his final arrest that he was
detained by a group of armed men and taken to the then federal police
commissioner Workneh Gebeyehu. The police boss fumed with anger and
threatened him that they would no longer waste time to arrest him. “We
will come to your house and will take the final action,” he told him.
Nonetheless, Eskinder was arrested again while he was picking up his
son from school. His captors were cruelly videotaping his arrest mocking
and laughing at the crying boy who begged them in vain to leave his dad
alone.
The last decade has been the harshest for Ethiopian journalists.
CPJ’s 2015 list of 10 Most Censored Countries ranked the country in
fourth place, in league with North Korea, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and
Azerbaijan.
Empty rhetoric
BBC World Service Africa editor Mary Harper recently posed a few
questions to “Prime Minister” Hailemariam Desalegn on the disturbing
state of journalism in Ethiopia.
“Free media is very essential for the democratic process and
development,” Hailemariam said. He seems to have a difficulty of
distinguishing between democracy and tyranny.
Eskedar Alemu welcoming her sister Reeyot Alemu at Dulles International Airport.
Hailemariam insisted that the bloggers and reporters arrested and
jailed were not real journalists. To him, they are all terrorists. “This
has to be very clearly underlined because that shouldn’t be confused
with the noble profession journalism and the work that journalists do in
this country,” he said.
While Serkalem was trying to figure out a way to celebrate her jailed
husband’s birthday, another journalist arrived from Ethiopia on the
same day.
Reeyot Alemu spent over four years in jail. She was denied access to
medical care despite the pain of a malignancy on her breast. She is
another convicted “terrorist” who suffered a lot in solitary confinement
until she was suddenly released last July in advance of President
Obama’s visit to Ethiopia.
In her Facebook post, Serkalem also expressed her worries about
another fiery journalist and her husband’s good friend, Temesgen
Desalegn. Temesgen, the former publisher and editor of Feteh newspaper
has also been denied access to medical care. He is not even allowed to
get painkillers. They want him to bear unbearable pains physical and
mental pains like so many others before him. This is how a desperate
tyranny defends itself when it feels totally besieged by the brave
warriors of truth.
As Eskinder wrote in his Letter from Ethiopia’s Gulag (NY Times, July 24, 2013):
"Tyranny is increasingly unsustainable in this
post-Cold-War era. It is doomed to failure. But it must be prodded to
exit the stage with a whimper — not the bang that extremists long for. I
am confident that America will eventually do the right thing. After
all, the new century is the age of democracy primarily because of the
United States. Here in the Ethiopian gulag, this alone is reason enough
to pay homage to the land of the brave."
The land of the free and home of brave that has guaranteed us freedom
and granted us refuge in these dark hours should also hear the voices
from faraway jails. America can exert its leverage, at least to prod and
nudge its East African ally, to release the “terrorist” journalists for
its own sake.
There is no journalism without those who take risks for the sake enlightening and informing the world.
All the brave journalists that go to war zones, confront powerful
tyrannies and expose crimes and atrocities deserve attention. After all,
they are the light of the world.
In a lengthy piece, “Letter to My Son”, Eskinder noted that his
suffering for the sake of freedom and justice is exalting. But he never
denied that the most unbearable pain to him is the physical separation
from his beloved wife and son. He wrote movingly:
I miss you and your mother terribly. The pain is almost physical. But
in this plight of our family is embedded hope of a long suffering
people. There is no greater honor. We must bear any pain, travel any
distance, climb any mountain, cross any ocean to complete this journey
to freedom. Anything less is impoverishment of our soul. God bless you,
my son. You will always be in my prayers.
Locking up, torturing and killing journalists has never been a show
of strength and power. It only magnifies the very crimes and wickedness
that perpetrators of such acts of terror want to hide from the rest of
the world.
Tyrants that terrorize nations don’t seem to pay attention to one
important fact. When true journalists suffer, journalism also suffers
and feels the pain.
Eskinder is the living defiant embodiment of press freedom. He has
been given major international awards and honors including PEN America’s
Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award (2012), Golden Pen of Freedom
Award of World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (2014), PEN
Canada’s One Humanity Award (2015). None of these coveted prizes are
reserved for criminals, tyrants and terrorists.
Eskinder today is a free man because he has inspired the young
bloggers of Zone 9. He has inspired thousands of Ethiopian “citizen
journalists” who freely express themselves on social media.
Eskinder is the very face of journalism today. A face bloodied and
bludgeoned by the wrath of tyrants but unbowed. A face menaced by 18
years of prison but unafraid.
His life in prison means only one thing. Tyrants can jail the journalists, but never journalism.
Journalism will never die. Journalism has outlived so many tyrannies in recorded history.
We shall never forget Eskinder Nega!