One Humanity Award

The editor and journalist Eskinder Nega was arrested in September 2011 on charges brought under Ethiopia’s 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. Before his arrest, Nega published a column questioning whether detained journalists were suspected terrorists and he criticized the arrest of a well-known government critic. Nega was charged with having affiliations with Ginbot 7, a banned political party, and for receiving weapons and explosives from Eritrea. Convicted on June 27, 2012 he was given an 18-year prison sentence on July 13, 2012. The Ethiopian Supreme Court upheld the conviction on May 2, 2013 in a ruling several international human rights groups described as “highly dubious.”