Voices in Danger: Jailed for 18 years for criticising Ethiopia's government, journalist Eskinder Nega vows to keep fighting

Voices in Danger: Jailed for 18 years for criticising Ethiopia's government, journalist Eskinder Nega vows to keep fighting           Tuesday 4 June 2013  

The INDEPENDENT 

The Independent has seen a defiant letter smuggled out of jail by a man who pines for democracy

An 

Ethiopian journalist who was jailed after publishing a series of articles calling for democratic reforms has penned a letter from prison, seen exclusively by The Independent, in which he decries the “human rights crisis” unfolding in Ethiopia and describes the personal toll of facing 18 years behind bars. The call to action: You can help Eskinder’s case. Please share these stories, his journalism, and his prison letter, as widely as you can through social media. Wherever you are in the world, please raise his case with your elected officials and governmental foreign ministers.

                                                                                                                        Eskinder Nega, 45, was sentenced last year under a broad 2009 anti-terrorism law which freedom of speech activists, the United Nations and various members of the US congress and European Parliament  say effectively banindependent journalism in Ethiopia.  At trial, Mr Nega admitted he had criticised the government, but said he had only ever called for peaceful steps towards democratic reforms....." The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/voices-in-danger-jailed-for-18-years-for-criticising-ethiopias-government-journalist-eskinder-nega-vows-to-keep-fighting-8644555.html?fb_action_ids=10151995249519498&fb_action_types=og.recommends