WAN-Ifra has named jailed Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega for its 2014 Golden Pen of Freedom press freedom prize.

The award was announced on Monday in Turin, Italy, during the opening of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum.

A relentless advocate for freedom of expression, Nega became an emblem of Ethiopia’s struggle for democracy, his commitment to human rights landing him in jail on at least seven occasions in the past ten years. He is currently 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.



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.

“Without abatement, Ethiopia resorts to anti-terrorism legislation to silence opposition and shackle the press. Alarmingly, beyond Ethiopia, countless states around the world are misapplying legislation designed to protect our societies to journalists, bloggers and freedom of expression advocates.

“Let me be clear: Journalism is not terrorism,” said Bjerager.

Eskinder Nega’s newspapers Asqual, Satenaw and Menelik were among 13 titles closed in a clampdown following 2005 elections in which the ruling EPRDF party claimed a disputed victory.

Accepting the award at the request of Eskinder Nega’s family, Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye – himself a former prisoner of the Ethiopian regime, jailed alongside Eskinder Nega for 11 months between 2011-2012 – reminded delegates that Nega “at many points” faced a choice: “He could have chosen an easy life, he could have chosen another profession, but the love for the truth, for his country, for his fellow human beings, and for Ethiopia, made him into journalist.”

Pictured: Eskinder Nega in a picture supplied to WAN-Ifra by his family