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Serkalem Fasil (
Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...
: ሰርካለም ፋሲል; born c. 1978) is an Ethiopian
journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
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.


Arrested

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".


Prisoner of conscience

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 that it has more than ten million members a ...
identified her as a
prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...
, 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 (locally known as "Maremiya" which means correction center) it serves as the main prison of the country. It is 11 km south of central Addis ...
in
Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...
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.


Award

Fasil won a "Courage in Journalism Award" from the IWMF (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 2022, there exists "significant human rights issues" in Ethiopia. In addition to extrajudicial killings and instances of "enforced disappearance", other human right issues in E ...
* List of detained journalists and activists in Ethiopia (2023)


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 Year of birth missing (living people)