Write for Rights
Our annual Write for Rights (aka the Greetings Card Campaign) will be held this year on Saturday, December 7th between 9.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. on the Cornmarket, at the junction of Sheep Street and High Street, opposite the Town Hall.
As usual we will be inviting members of the public, passing through that busy junction to take a moment to sign a greetings card in support of someone unjustly imprisoned or persecuted for their beliefs.
Someone like Eskinder Nega who is serving an 18 year prison sentence in Ethiopia for ‘incitement to commit terrorist acts’ and ‘treason’ - but he is neither a terrorist nor a traitor. He’s a firm believer in free speech.
Sign a card on December 7th and help get Eskinder home to his family - and return to work as a journalist, championing free speech.
When the Ethiopian government used anti-terror laws to silence its critics, Eskinder spoke out in protest. And when the people of nearby Egypt and Libya rose up in the ‘Arab Spring’, he speculated that the same could happen in Ethiopia. That scared the Ethiopian authorities.
So Eskinder was arrested, for the eighth time and charged with ‘incitement to commit terrorist acts’ and ‘treason’.
Yet despite the lies and the pain of separation from his family, Eskinder sleeps in peace, his conscience clear. The same, he wrote in an open letter recently:
‘cannot be said of my incarcerators though they sleep in warm beds, next to their wives, in their homes.’
Eskinder Nega
Now is our chance
The Ethiopian government has bowed to pressure from people like you before. Opposition politician Birtukan Midekssa was imprisoned alongside Eskinder and Serkalem from 2005 to 2007. She says pressure on the government from Amnesty supporters was instrumental in securing her release.
We believe we can do the same for Eskinder if we can show that tens of thousands of people around the world know and care about his plight. Please help us get him home to his wife, his child - and his work as a journalist, exposing repression.
‘Individuals can be penalised, made to suffer (oh, how I miss my child) and even killed. But… I will live to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It may or may not be a long wait. Whichever way events go, I shall persevere.’
Eskinder Nega
Because whatever the Ethiopian authorities may do, they will never silence Eskinder Nega. JOIN US!
When the Ethiopian government used anti-terror laws to silence its critics, Eskinder spoke out in protest. And when the people of nearby Egypt and Libya rose up in the ‘Arab Spring’, he speculated that the same could happen in Ethiopia. That scared the Ethiopian authorities.
So Eskinder was arrested, for the eighth time and charged with ‘incitement to commit terrorist acts’ and ‘treason’.
Yet despite the lies and the pain of separation from his family, Eskinder sleeps in peace, his conscience clear. The same, he wrote in an open letter recently:
‘cannot be said of my incarcerators though they sleep in warm beds, next to their wives, in their homes.’
Eskinder Nega
Now is our chance
The Ethiopian government has bowed to pressure from people like you before. Opposition politician Birtukan Midekssa was imprisoned alongside Eskinder and Serkalem from 2005 to 2007. She says pressure on the government from Amnesty supporters was instrumental in securing her release.
We believe we can do the same for Eskinder if we can show that tens of thousands of people around the world know and care about his plight. Please help us get him home to his wife, his child - and his work as a journalist, exposing repression.
‘Individuals can be penalised, made to suffer (oh, how I miss my child) and even killed. But… I will live to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It may or may not be a long wait. Whichever way events go, I shall persevere.’
Eskinder Nega
Because whatever the Ethiopian authorities may do, they will never silence Eskinder Nega.
You can also text to support Eskinder:
To take action just text TRUTH8 and your full name to 70505. Over 14s only please.
Texts charged at standard network rate, no more than 10p. Please ask bill-payers permission. By giving us your number you agree to future communication from us by SMS. To unsubscribe, text STOP to 70505 at any time. See full terms and conditions
can also sign our petition calling for Eskinder's release by text.
0 comments