Sakharov and the fight for a free press in Ethiopia - Blog - Committee to Protect Journalists

9.10.13

Sakharov and the fight for a free press in Ethiopia - Blog - Committee to Protect Journalists: In considering both Eskinder, a veteran journalist and free speech activist, and Reeyot, a teacher and newspaper columnist, for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize, the selection committee is recognizing two uncompromising idealists and indomitable free thinkers who have stubbornly persisted in telling inconvenient truths about their government in a country silenced by fear.

For Eskinder, who has spent the last two decades in and out of jail enduring arrests, intimidation, the closures of his newspapers, and the arrest of his wife and the birth of his son in prison, you would think fear, anger, and bitterness would be natural emotions. Instead, the writings of the American-educated journalist have consistently reflected a clear commitment to peaceful reform with pointed, thoughtful critiques of the unkept promises of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which maintains a tight stranglehold on the country.