Ethiopian journalist Woubshet Taye wasย arrested in June 2011 and has been held behind bars since then. For doing his job as a journalist, he was sentenced 14 years on anti-state charges.ย Zone 9 Blogger BefeQadu Z. Hailu, who himself was jailed in 2014-2015, writes about his visit toย Woubshet in Zeway Prison.ย
Woubshet is father of a 7 year-old boy, Fiteh. He is also a husband. He used to be editor-in-chief ofย Awramba Times,ย weekly newspaper, before he was arrested and convicted of โterrorismโ. He was charged with four other people, including journalists Reeyot Alemu and Elias Kifle. All were โfound guilty.โย Elias was charged inย absentia. Reeyot wasย released a few days before Barack Obamaโs first visit to Ethiopia. Many assume the United States presidentโs visit influenced her release. Woubshet, however, remains behind bars.
Today, I went to the very hot and dusty town of Zeway, where Woubsbet is jailed.ย He is kept in a โSpecial Security Zoneโ (แแฉ แฅแ แ แแ) where only 20 people are held.ย The degree of security is high and the censorship is heavy. Visitors have tried to bring him books, but only a few fiction books have been allowed to pass through. Woubshet has however managed to write and publish a book from prison. It is titledย Yenetsanet Dimtsochย (The Voice of Freedom: from Maekelawi to Zeway Prison). The book is a collection of essays where he writes about the challenges he and other journalists have faced. But searches in the cells are frequent, and he says that writing more is difficult. When I talked to Woubshet, four guards were by his side listening to what we said to each other. But, even though it was hardly possible to talk freely, he seemed to not be concerned about their listening. I found Woubshet more eloquent and gentler than beforeย going to prison. He looked very comfortable andย seemed to have gottenย used to this tough situation he is passing through.
Woubshet has won two international awards for his work โ CNNโs African Journalist of the Year in 2013 and Human Rights Watch Hellman/Hammett Award of 2012. Despite his accomplishments and the tough situation he is in, the local people and his colleaguesย often seem to have forgotten all about him. Not many people visit him regularly. It is mostly only his wife and son who are always there for him.
Even with all the challenges, he is in a very good shapeย both psychologicallyย andย physically.ย Woubshet hasย already served 5 of his 14-year prisonย sentence.ย Before I left, he asked me to pass his greetingsย to many people with whom he had worked, as well as those with whom he had passed prison times, including the Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye.
Source: ย http://www.untoldstoriesonline.com/
