2014 Golden Pen of Freedom Awarded to Eskinder Nega of Ethiopia
h(768)/33d755d6d4eeb08d987dbd1486e22a60.jpg "2014 Golden Pen of Freedom Awarded to Eskinder Nega of Ethiopia")
10.06.2014 Jailed Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega (photo) has been awarded the 2014 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
Photo: Eskinder Nega (Eskinder family), http://www.cpj.org/tags/eskinder-nega
The
award was presented Monday in Turin, Italy, during the opening ceremonies of
the 66th World Newspaper Congress, 21st World Editors Forum and 24th World
Advertising Forum, before 1,000 publishers, chief editors, CEOs, managing
directors and their guests.
A free-thinker and relentless advocate for freedom of expression, Mr. Nega has
become an emblem of Ethiopia's struggle for democracy. Over the past decade his
commitment to human rights has placed him in jail on at least seven occasions.
Eskinder Nega is being held in Kaliti Prison outside of Addis Ababa, serving an
18-year sentence as a convicted "terrorist" for having challenged the very same
laws used to imprison him, and for questioning whether the Arab Spring protests
could be repeated in Ethiopia.
In presenting the award, World Editors Forum President Erik Bjerager said: "The Ethiopian government has tried to present Eskinder Nega as a rabble-rouser bent on fomenting violent revolution. However, accounts from other journalists, backed by court documents and the hundreds of articles he has written, portray a tenacious writer who has called only for peaceful change and reconciliation."
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