Swedish support for jailed colleagues in Ethiopia, Eritrea

Swedish support for jailed colleagues in
Ethiopia, Eritrea

18 Oct. 2011 | Tom Rhodes (CPJ East Africa Consultant)
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If you pass by Kronoberg

Prison in Sweden's

capital, Stockholm, you

will see journalists chained

to its gates. They have

committed no crime. For

over a week, journalists

have taken turns locking

themselves up in front of

the prison to raise

awareness of the

imprisonment of three

colleagues held in the Horn of Africa.

The show of solidarity is intended to highlight the cases of Dawit
Isaac, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist held without charge or trial for
over a decade in Eritrea, and Martin Schibbye and Johan
Persson, freelancers with the Sweden-based Kontinent photo
agency, who have been jailed in Ethiopia since July facing
terrorism charges.

Isaac co-founded Eritrea's now-banned largest newspaper Setit
but was arrested with other journalists and political dissidents in a
brutal September 2001 crackdown. Schibbye and Persson were
arrested in eastern Ethiopia while reporting on the activities of
separatist rebels the Ethiopian government formally designated as
terrorists under a sweeping anti-terrorism law. Schibbye and
Persson risk up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Eritrea holds
the ignominious title of Africa's leading jailer of journalists while
Ethiopia takes second place.

The journalist community in Sweden is highlighting the plight of
these three journalists and calling on the Swedish government to
do more to foster their release. "The Swedish government is yet to
make a clear stand for these and all journalists' right to do their
job without being thrown in jail," says one of the organizers, Johan
Wirfält, editor of the Swedish magazine Rodeo. Based on public
statements made by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, many
journalists within the Swedish community have started questioning
the government's commitment to securing the release of the
journalists, Wirfält told me.

Recent statements by Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi,
have further raised concerns that Schibbye and Persson will not
receive a fair trial. In describing Schibbye and Persson as
accomplices to terrorists and not journalists in an interview with
Norwegian paper Aftenpostern, Zenawi brushed aside any
expectation that the journalists would be granted the presumption
of innocence, a fundamental right of defense.

In the same interview, Zenawi questioned why Schibbye and
Persson entered Ethiopia illegally "with a terrorist organization,"
and concluded "If that is journalism, I don't know what terrorism
is." In fact, the premier holds the answer, in his government's
policy of banning independent media access to the Ogaden region
where oil exploitation and allegations of human rights abuses in the
midst of a low-level insurgency go uninvestigated. "Everyone
knows if you want to report in a war zone and not get killed
immediately, you have to be embedded with one side of the
conflict -- that does not mean the journalists are supporting their
war, they are merely reporting the war," Wirfält said. Schibbye
and Persson's journalism career is widely visible in the articles and
photos published in some of Sweden's major publications, said
journalist and protest organizer Sara Murillo Cortes. "All Swedes
have seen photos taken by these journalists, there is so much
proof that they have worked as journalists before, there is simply
no discussion on that."

So, on any given day roughly 25 Swedish journalists, including
well-known veterans, can be seen standing outside Kronoberg
prison in chains, Cortes told me. It is not easy at 40 degrees F (5
degrees C) to remain chained outside a Swedish prison. "Socks
are most important. You have to wear a lot of socks. Not that it
compares to being in prison in Ethiopia or Eritrea," Wirfält said.
Well-wishers, including police working at the prison, buy them
cups of tea and coffee. Sweden's press is also supportive. The
country's leading daily Dagens Nyheter ("Today's News") ran its
main op-ed on the subject, among many others.

The group plans to keep their chains on until Schibbye and
Persson's trial on Tuesday in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
"We wanted to show a physical presence, not just a Facebook
campaign where you simply press a button," Cortes said. "This
protest is a call for solidarity. Journalists must stand up for press
freedom because what has happened to these three could happen
to any of us."

Courtesy