Five activists punished by their governments for speaking out

By Alice Kirkland / 2 January, 2014


Activists are continually harassed and punished for standing up and speaking out about social and political issues they feel are unjust in their country. Here are five activists whose government didn’t quite like what they had to say.



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Raif Badawi- Saudi blogger punished after calling for ‘day of liberalism’

It would seem absurd to most people that “liking” a Facebook page could land you in jail. However, that was one of the crimes charged against Raif Badawi after he “liked” an Arab Christian page on the social networking site. The young co-founder of the Liberal Saudi Network, a website that has since been shut down, was arrested in June 2012 for “insulting Islam through electronic channels”, including insulting Islam and portraying disobedience.

In January, a court had refused to hear apostasy charges against Badawi, concluding that there was no case. Apostasy carries the death sentence in Saudi Arabia. He has since been sentenced to 600 lashes and seven years in jail.

Eskinder Nega- Ethiopian blogger

Eskinder Nega is a well-known name in Ethiopia whose journalism has been recognised by major organisations globally; he is currently serving 18 years in jail for supposedly violating the country’s anti-terrorism legislation.

Nega was arrested in September 2011 after publishing, somewhat ironically, an article criticising his government’s detainment of journalists as suspected terrorists, in particular the arrest of Ethiopian actor and government critic Debebe Eshetu . Along with 23 others, he was then convicted of having links with US-based opposition group Ginbot Seven, an organisation Ethiopia had recently added to its list of terrorists.

This is not the first time Nega has been imprisoned for speaking out in defense human rights. Meles Zenawi’s government handed him a total of eight sentences over the past decade. He is also not the only journalist to face prosecution under the Ethiopian government. According to the Amnesty Annual Report 2013 a number of journalists and political opposition members were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on terrorism charges for calling for reform, criticizing the government, or for links with peaceful protest movements. Much of the evidence used against these individuals consisted of examples of them exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.

Shi Tao- Stung by Yahoo in China

2013 was a good year for Shi Tao; the Chinese reporter was finally released after documents leaked by Yahoo to his government saw him spend the past eight and a half years behind bars.

Tao sent details of a government memo about restrictions on news coverage of the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary to a human rights forum in the United States. He was subsequently arrested in 2004 and sentenced the following year charged with disclosing state secrets.

Reporters Without Borders said the branch of Yahoo in Hong Kong assisted the Chinese government in linking Shi Tao’s email account to the message containing the information he had sent abroad. Yahoo was heavily criticised at the time by human rights activists and U.S. legislators with Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, publicly apologising to Shi Tao’s family.

Tao was released 15 months before the end of us 10 year restriction. It is unclear why his early release occurred.

Ngo Hao- Vietnamese blogger

You’re never too old to go to prison as 65-year-old activist Ngo Hao found out after he was handed 15 year sentence earlier this year on charges of attempting to overthrow the Vietnamese government. Accused of writing and circulating false and defamatory information about his government and its leaders, Hao was arrested in February. Further accusations included a peaceful attempt to instil an Arab Spring-style revolution and of working with dissident group Bloc 8406.

Reporters Without Borders criticised Hao’s trial for a lack of his right to a fair defence and the unwillingness to allow any family members to attend the hearing asides from his son.

Just weeks before an appeal court in the south of the country also sentenced two bloggers, Nguyen Phuong Uyen and Dinh Nguyen Kha. This takes the estimated total of bloggers behind bars in Vietnam to 36.

Jabeur Mejri- Tunisian blogger seven and a half years for posting on Facebook

After the 2011 Arab Spring many Tunisian bloggers were able to express themselves freely; a stark contrast to the censorship, arrest and jail they had come to expect under the rule of former President Ben Ali. One such blogger was Jabeur Mejri who, in March 2012, posted a cartoon of the Prophet Mohamed on his Facebook page, a post that sentenced the blogger to over seven years in jail for “attacking sacred values through actions or words” and “undermining public morals”.

The rise of ‘opinion trials’ has become a concern to many with Mejri being the first person sent to jail under the procedure. Lina Ben Mhenni told Amnesty International: “You can go to jail for a word or an idea. ‘Opinion trials’ have become part of our daily lives. As in many other countries, Tunisia’s taboo topics are religion and politics. You can’t criticize the government in general or the Islamists in particular.”

የወያኔን “አንድ ለአምስቶች” ወያኔን ለማዳከም እንጠቀምባቸው

January 2, 2014
ወያኔ የኢትዮጵያን ሕዝብ ለመቆጣጠር እንዲያመቸው በ“አንድ ለአምስት” አደረጃጀት እያደራጀው ነው። ይህ አደረጃጀት ስታሊን ለሠላሳ ዓመታት ሶቭየት ኅብረትን፤ ኤንቨር ሆዣ ደግሞ ለአርባ ዓመታት አልባኒያን ጠፍረው የገዙበት ስልት ነው። በዚህ የአገዛዝ ስልት መሠረት እያንዳንዱ ሰው በመዋቅር ተይዞ አራቱ ለአንዱ መረጃ የሚያቀብሉበት ሥርዓት ይዘረጋል።

ሕዝብን በድርጅት አባልነት ስም በመዋቅር ማስገባት ለአንባገነኖች የሚሰጠው ዋነኛ ጥቅም የማኅበረሰብን ስነልቦና መስበሩ ነው። ይህ አወቃቀር ዜጎች የአምባገነኑን መንግሥት ኃይል ከመጠን በላይ አግዝፈው፤ እራሳቸውን ደግሞ አንኳሰው እንዲመለከቱ ያደርጋቸዋል። ዜጎች፣ “መንግሥት እያንዳንዱን ነገር አብጠርጥሮ ያውቃል” በሚል የፍራቻ ቆፈን እንዲያዙ ያደርጋቸዋል። እያንዳንዱ ሰው ጓደኛውን እንዲጠረጥር በማድረግ አምባገነኖች የስለላ ተቋማቸዉ ጠንካራና ሁሉን-አዋቂ እንዲመስል ያደርጉታል።

ይሁን እንጂ የማኅበረሰብ ስነልቦና ካልተሰበረ፤ በፍራቻ ፋንታ በራስ መተማመን ከዳበረ ማንም ያደራጀው ማን ነፃ ህሊና ያላቸው አባላት ድርጅቱን ራሳቸውን ነፃ ለማውጣት ይጠቀሙበታል። አሁን በደረስንበት ሁኔታ ይህንን በአገራችን ተግባራዊ የማድረግ ሰፊ እድል አለን። የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ከወያኔ ፍራቻ እራሱን ነፃ እያወጣ ነው። ወያኔ ከስታሊንም ሆነ ከኤንቨር ሆዣ በተለየ መንገድየአመለካከትና የርዕዮተዓለም ጉዳይ የሚያሳስበዉ ሀይል አይደለም።ቢያሳስበውም የሕዝብን ቀልብ የሚይይዝበት ምንም ነገር የለውም። ይህ ባህሪይዉ ነዉ ነው ወያኔ በእጅጉ የተጠላ ኃይል እንዲሆን ያደረገው።

እንዲህ በግዴታ እንጂ በእምነት ያልተሰባሰቡ ሰዎች ባሉበት ሁኔታ ተመሳሳይ ፀረ-ወያኔ አቋም ያላቸው ሰዎች በአንድ “አንድ ለአምስት” ሕዋስ ውስጥ የመገኘታቸው አጋጣሚ የጎላ ነው። እነዚህ አባላት በግልጽ ከተነጋገሩበት ሕዋሱን ለፀረ-ወያኔ ትግል ሊጠቀሙበት ይችላሉ። በመሆኑም ወያኔን ለመጨቆኛ መሣሪያነት ያዋቀረውን “አንድ ለአምስት” ራሱ ወያኔን መታገያ ብሎም ማዳከሚያ መሣሪያ ማድረግ ይቻላል። “አንድ ለአምስትን” በሽፋንነት በመጠቀም ውስጥ ውስጡን መጀራጀት በስፋት ልንይዘዉና ልንሰራበት የሚገባ ስትራቴጄ ነው።

የወያኔ “አንድ ለአምስት” የኑሯችን አካል እየሆነ መጥቷል። በአንዳንድ ቦታዎች አለመደራጀት ሥራ የሚያሳጣ እየሆነ ነው። በማናቸውም ምክንያት ራሳቸውን ወያኔ ጉያ ውስጥ ያገኙ የሕዝብ ወገኖች ካሁን በኋላ መሥራት ያለባቸው ወያኔን ከውስጥ ሆኖ የማዳከምን ሥራ ማፋጠን ነው። ለዚህ ደግሞ እንደ “አንድ ለአምስት” አመቺ የሆነ መዋቅር አይገኝም።

በአሁኑ ሰዓት ግንቦት 7 ሕዋሳቶቹን በሁሉም ቦታ ለማዋቀር ከፍተኛ ጥረት እያደረገ ይገኛል፤በዚህም መሠረት የግንቦት 7 ሕዋሶች በሁሉም የአገሪቱ አካባቢ ባልተማከለ መልኩ በብዛት እየተመሠረቱ ነው። ከዚህ ህዋሳቶችን ከመዘርጋት ሥራ ጎን ለጎን ህዝቡ በያለበት የወያኔንየራሱንመዋቅር በመጠቀም ወያኔንና ስርዐቱን መገዝገዝ አለበት።

ይህንን ለማድረግ የግንቦት 7ን መመሪያ መጠበቅ አያስፈልግም። እያንዳንዱ ኢትዮጵያዊ በራሱ መንገድ ተግባራዊ ሊያደርገው የ የሚችለዉ ነገር ነው።

በመሆኑም ግንቦት 7፡ የፍትህ፣ የነፃነትና የዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ የወያኔ “አንድ ለአምስቶችን” ወያኔን ለማዳከም እንጠቀምባቸው የሚል ጥሪ ያቀርባል።

ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ!!!