Fesshaye Yohannes (c. 19552007) was an

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

n journalist who founded the weekly journal '' Setit'' and was a recipient of the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

' 2002 International Press Freedom Award. Fesshaye was imprisoned without charges in September 2001, and died in government custody.

Career

Fesshaye became a journalist in the early 1990s, after Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia. Previously, he had been a member of the guerrilla movement fighting for Eritrean independence in the

Eritrean War of Independence The Eritrean War of Independence was an War, armed conflict and insurgency aimed at achieving self-determination and independence for Eritrea from Ethiopian rule. Starting in 1961, Eritrean insurgents engaged in guerrilla warfare to liberate ...

. In 1994, he founded the weekly journal ''Setit'', one of the country's first independent newspapers, named for the only Eritrean river to have water all year. ''Setit'' soon gained the largest circulation in Eritrea. The journal covered difficult and controversial topics, including poverty, prostitution, and the lack of resources for handicapped veterans of the Eritrean independence movement. In addition to his journalism, Fesshaye also worked as a playwright. ''Setit'''s coverage angered Eritrean authorities, and in May 2001, Fesshaye asked the Committee to Protect Journalists for help creating a journalists' union to increase the freedom of the press and provide protection for Eritrean journalists. In September 2001, one week after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, the Eritrean government closed every independent media outlet in the country under the pretext of fighting terrorism, and arrested many journalists. The

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

stated that "the private newspapers by their wanton irresponsibility had provoked the anger of the people who demanded that they be closed and sighed with relief when they were temporarily suspended." Fesshaye considered going into hiding, but decided that he could not abandon his fellow journalists.

Imprisonment and Death

Fesshaye was arrested and imprisoned. In May 2002, he and nine other imprisoned journalists began a hunger strike to protest their imprisonment, and were transferred to a secret jail at an unknown location where they had no contact with the outside world. The date of Fesshaye's death is disputed. While some sources state that he died on January 11, 2007, following a prolonged illness, exiled opposition party leader Adhanom Gebremariam reported that Fesshaye was found dead in his cell on December 13, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yohannes, Fesshaye Eritrean journalists Eritrean soldiers Eritrean prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Eritrea Eritrean people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Eritrean detention 1954 births 2000s deaths Year of death uncertain Eritrean male writers Male journalists 20th-century journalists

Career

Imprisonment and Death

See also

References