We have been supporting Ethiopian journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega the last 5 years, and we called for his release several times. In this post from 2013: Free Ethiopian Journalist Eskinder Nega, we shared a video of Nega. A couple of months later, in a smuggled letter from prison, the journalist vowed to keep fighting.
In 2017 Eskinder Nega was named the International Press Institute (IPI)’s 69th World Press Freedom Hero. Read our post here. A year later, news are very good: after 7 years in jail, Nega has finally been released a few days ago!
Agreed. #EskinderNega should never have been jailed in the first place. He must be freed unconditionally. https://t.co/isJaqgC3xp https://t.co/BKiGFVITap
— CPJ Africa (@CPJAfrica) February 8, 2018
We can read in this post published on Africa News website:
Eskinder, who has been in jail since 2001, convicted of having links with banned groups, was among the over 740 prisoners who were set for release by the federal government as part of political reforms announced in January 2018. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) quoted Eskinder’s wife, Serkalem Fasil, saying that at 11am, local time late last week, a prison official asked Eskinder to sign a form which falsely stated that he was a member of Ginbot 7, an organization that the government deems a terrorist group.
Addis Standard, an independent online media and monthly English private magazine tweeted about the release of Nega:
https://twitter.com/addisstandard/status/963774367460216832?tfw_creator=africanews&tfw_site=africanews&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.africanews.com%2F2018%2F02%2F14%2Fethiopia-frees-top-journalist-eskinder-nega-after-7-years-in-jail-activists%2F
We are very happy Nega is now out of jail, and he still has our support. But this good news should not make us forget freedom of the press is precarious in Ethiopia, like Addis Standard reminds us in their tweet…
