This's the price many journalists and their loved ones have to pay in dictatorial countries like Ethiopia. Johan & Martin committed no crime but dared to be a voice to the voiceless; otherwise they would have chased celebrities and then live a very luxurious life with their families. We Ethiopians owe Martin & Johan for sharing our pain and being punished by one of horn Africa's ruthless tyrants for the crimes they didn't commit. As you all know, Ethiopian dictator intensifies his crackdown on Ethiopian press with the guise of its recently enacted infamous ''anti-terrorism" law to muzzle critical journalists/bloggers which includes Eskinder Nega, Reyoot Alemu, Woubshet Taye and the duo Swedes Martin Schibbye & Johan Persson.
I was able to interview Linnea Schibbye Steiner, Martin Schibbye's wife, at an event organized by Omvärldens Magazine & Reporters Without Borders Sweden here in Stockholm last week on December 02, 2011.Martin Schibbye & Johan Persson, the duo Swedish journalists, have been at Kaliti jail (one of the worst prisons in the world) since last July after they were caught while they were crossing Ethio-Somalia border to investigate the role of Ludin Petroleum (a Swedish Oil firm to which the country's foreign minster Carl Bildt was a member of board directors until 2009) in the human rights violations perpetuated by the Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi & his cronies in Ogaden region. The regime which is among the worst enemies of freedom of expression has also charged more than 6 critical journalists/bloggers, leaders and members of opposition parties with badly cooked up evidence under the guise of its infamous recently enacted ''anti-terror'' law. Recently the dictator intensified its crackdown on the media, as a result CPJ's 2010 award winner Dawit Kebede and another satirist Ethiopian journalist Abebe Tola aka Abe Tokichaw fled the country. On December 06-07 2011, Johan & Martin appeared before Zenawi's kangaroo court which has been used by the junta to orchestrate its circus and deceive the world about its legitimacy. What's more frustrating according to Linnea Schibbye and many Swedish citizens is that their government's silent diplomacy which could risk the lives of these two courageous journalists who did no crime but dared to voice to the voiceless. I'm humiliated to dedicate this clip - the first ever piece I ever made all by myself - to all journalists who were killed, jailed, tortured, jailed and forced to live in exile across the world by the enemy of the truth and pen. I apologize for the poor quality of the image as I had neither a light nor a proper camera to film Linnea during that hectic time. Let's fight for TYRANT FREE 2012
Hi Tedo,
ReplyDeleteit was nice meeting you last time. I like this interview and I hope it will awake the world to act and say enough to meles. he is taking us back to stone age and killing all the remaining press in Ethiopia. we're in darkness and Meles and his mafia group are doing everyting to silence us and stop the resistence. Please keeep doing the good job, even if life has been tough to you the past couple of years, it's the price one has to pay. good luck and i hope to meet you agin.
as i said before, you're a traitor one of the kehadis. so, you're defending terrorist? you'll pay a price for this...either u stay here for the rest of your life and die here or you'll join your terorist group in kaliti. let me ask you dedeb refugee, which country in the world allow any journalist to go illegallly into its teritory?this's a smiple question.would Sweden welcome a journalist with some islamist to bomb its citzens?
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