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Serkalem Fasil (
Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...
: ሰርካለም ፋሲል; born c. 1978) is an Ethiopian
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and former co-publisher of the newspapers '' Asqual'', '' Menilik'', and '' Satenaw''.


Career

In 1997, Fasil began her journalistic career at the newspaper ''Wenchef''. The following year, at the age of twenty, she founded her own newspaper, ''Menilik'', put out by her own publishing house. She began another, ''Asqual'', in 2001, and a third, ''Satenaw'', in 2004. She served ''Menilik'''s deputy editor and the chairwoman of ''Satenaw'''s board. In November 2005, Fasil was arrested along with thirteen other reporters, including her husband, Eskinder Nega, after publishing articles critical of the Ethiopian government's actions during the May 2005 parliamentary elections. Fasil and her co-defendants were charged with "treason, outrages against the Constitution and incitement to armed conspiracy".
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
identified her as a prisoner of conscience, who had not advocated or used violence. She was being held in a
Kaliti Prison Kaliti Prison'' is a maximum security prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Commonly referred to as a gulag, it serves as the main prison of the country. It is 11 km south of central Addis Ababa, in Akaky Kaliti, the southernmost subcity of the ...
in
Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
in a rat-, cockroach-, and flea-infested cell. While in prison, Fasil gave birth to her and Nega's son. She was released by presidential pardon on 10 April 2007, along with her husband and 27 other defendants. Fasil won a "Courage in Journalism Award" from the
IWMF The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), located in Washington, D.C., is an organization working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created programs to help women in the media develop practical so ...
(International Women's Media Foundation) in 2007. She donated the prize money to Amnesty International in thanks for helping to secure her release from prison.


See also

*
Human rights in Ethiopia According to the U.S. Department of State's human rights report for 2004 and similar sources, the Ethiopian government's human rights "remained poor; although there were improvements, serious problems remained". The report listed numerous cases ...
*
List of detained journalists and activists in Ethiopia (2023) This is a list of journalists and activists detained in Ethiopia in 2023. CPJ reported that in April 2023 alone, 47 human rights organizations made calls on the government of Ethiopia ( Abiy Ahmed Ali) to end internet shut downs and digital ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fasil, Serkalem 1970s births Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Ethiopia Ethiopian journalists Ethiopian women journalists Ethiopian prisoners and detainees Living people Recipients of Ethiopian presidential pardons