Neither White nor Green Christmas for Johan & Martin, it's all GREY!!!

White Christmas in the North but Heat Shock in the South

Notorious Kaliti Prison of Ethiopia

I read the above title on Swedish Radio's website this morning and I try to visualize how Martin Schibbye, Johan Persson, Eskindeer Nega,Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Saleh Idris Gama, Tesfalidet Tesfazgi and hundreds of other prisoners of conscience being held at the notorious Kaliti prison in Ethiopia, are going to celebrate (guess, celebrate is an overstatement) 2011's Christmas. Well, it can't and will never be white as Ethiopia doesn't have snow and it can't be Green Christmas either since they're all (over 250 people) cramped in one open, dirty, noisy, shack infested with fleas and rats covered with GRAY corrugated iron sheet.
These human beings didn't commit any offense to be subjugated in such inhumane and barbaric manner. Their only crime was telling/finding the TRUTH only the TRUTH as a result they and their loved ones are paying the heaviest price which really becomes quite normal in present day Ethiopia. The catch word is terrorism to attack perceived and real enemies and a kangaroo court, doctored evidences and coerced witnesses are being used to legitimize it. What's even worse is that such crimes of dictators are rewarded with lavish overseas trips by donor countries like the US, Norway, Belgium, Denmark etc. On top of that there's Silent Diplomacy of the Swedish government which failed miserably Dawit Issak ,a very ill Eritrean-Swedish journalist who's been incommunicado since September 23, 2001.
Dawit may spend (there's a speculation he is dead due to lack of medical 

care for his chronic diabetes and other ailments) Christmas for 10th time separated from his wife, kids, and loved ones in an underground cell in isolation. But what's funnier even more is that the same people who blame their government's silent diplomacy are no different when it comes to being direct and straightforward themselves. I met this journalist at an event organized for Johan & Martin at the beginning of December and asked her if she could give me interview but she turned down my request for fear of jeopardizing the court hearings; well my colleague you're wrong because diplomacy is foreign to many tyrants and Meles proved me right by convicting Johan & Martin for the crime they didn't commit. My friend, all these court circuses are not all about journalists found guilty or not; it rather all about showing who's in charge and legitimizing his action. Unless everybody act in unison and tell the tyrants LOUD & CLEAR that they can no longer intimidate, harass, jail, kill, starve, torture etc their citizens and others; it not only encourage them to incriminate their victims before even proven guilty but also embolden their agents/cadres in the free world to attack and give death threat to fellow journalists in the supposedly free world a case in point: Meron Estefanos of Eritrea & a disabled Ethiopian journalist Ahmed. Linnea Schibbye told me that she was worried about the safety of her husband andJohan when I interviewed her at the beginning of this month. Martin & Johan could have worked for some of the tabloids, earn decent salary and lead a very comfortable life with their families in their country; but instead they went to a conflict area to find out the TRUTH where there's alleged crimes against human rights and the involvement of Ludin Oil (a very well known company with lots of dark secrets). This's their only crime and if the world in general and Swedish people in particular don't want Johan & Martin to spend another 18yrs of GREY Christmas in Kaliti, everybody should WALK the WALK instead of TALK. We can tweet and retweet zillion of times about Martin & Johan's cause but that wouldn't bring them back home to live a normal life and pursue their career.

What's needed right now is swift ACTION otherwise they'll become vegetables like many of my fellow country men/women who were incarcerated in that prison. I wish everybody a Happy Holiday and a TYRANT FREE 2012.