Books blogBooks This article is more than 17 years oldSerkalem Fasil: a life at risk for writing
This article is more than 17 years oldInternational Women's Day is a good time to remember the plight of the Ethiopian journalist, in prison and in mortal danger for criticising her government.Today is International Women's Day (IWD). Around the world women connect with one another, celebrate and are celebrated. The proffering of cards, gifts and flowers suggest that this is a time for showing love and respect for the female, akin to Mother's Day.
However, for many people there remains a political and human rights dimension to the day and in various countries it is used to heighten social awareness of women's struggles. IWD was itself born out of activism in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
Every year the writers' organisation PEN marks the day by focusing on a number of cases of women who have had their right to freedom of expression violated in some way. One of these is Ethiopian journalist Serkalem Fasil, who has been imprisoned since November 2005 following articles critical of the May 2005 parliamentary elections. In June last year Fasil was forced to give birth in a police hospital and her son is now cared for by his grandparents. Fasil is held in Katili prison, Addis Ababa, in appalling conditions - Amnesty, which has adopted Fasil as a prisoner of conscience, reports that her cell is infested with rats, cockroaches and fleas.
She is married to another journalist, Eskinder Negga, who is also detained. Fasil and Negga are among over 15 journalists arrested in late 2005 after being brave enough to write or publish articles that criticised the May 2005 elections. They are both accused of treason, a charge that in Ethiopia carries the death penalty. In recent months there have been disturbing reports that a number of journalists have died in custody
The Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, has been in power since 1995. The general elections held in May saw a massive increase in public support for opposition parties. This met with a violent reaction from the authorities. Some 30 demonstrators in Addis Ababa were killed in June 2005 following student protests over the elections. In the aftermath of the final results, announced in September, violent demonstrations led to more than 80 deaths in November 2005. A number of opposition leaders were arrested, allegedly for fuelling the violent protests. As well as these arrests, independent newspapers and their editors, publishers, and reporters were subjected to harassment, intimidation, and criminal charges solely because of their reporting and editorials.
Fasil, co-publisher of Asqual, Menilik and Satenaw newspapers, has clearly been caught in the crossfire of this massive crackdown on freedom of expression.
You can send appeals calling for the release of Serkalem Fasil, and other Ethiopian writers and journalists believed to be held in violation of their right to freedom of expression to: The Head of Mission, His Excellency Mr Berhanu Kebede at the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia at info@ethioembassy.org.uk. Ask him to pass on your concerns to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
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