Fesshaye Yohannes
Encyclopedia
Fesshaye Yohannes was an Eritrea
n journalist who founded the weekly journal Setit and was a recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalists
' 2002 International Press Freedom Award. Yohannes was imprisoned without charges in September 2001, and died in government custody.
Yohannes 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. He founded the weekly journal Setit, now closed, which 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.
The courageous coverage provided by Setit angered Eritrean authorities, and in May 2001, Yohannes 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 Eritrean government closed every independent media outlet in the country under the pretext of fighting terrorism, and arrested a large number of journalists. Yohannes considered going into hiding, but decided that he could not abandon his fellow journalists.
Yohannes was arrested and imprisoned. In May 2002, Yohannes 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 Yohannes' death is disputed. While some sources claim that he died on January 11, 2007 following a prolonged illness, exiled opposition party leader Adhanom Gebremariam reported that Yohannes was found dead in his cell on December 13, 2002.
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
n journalist who founded the weekly journal Setit and was a recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...
' 2002 International Press Freedom Award. Yohannes was imprisoned without charges in September 2001, and died in government custody.
Yohannes 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. He founded the weekly journal Setit, now closed, which 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.
The courageous coverage provided by Setit angered Eritrean authorities, and in May 2001, Yohannes 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 Eritrean government closed every independent media outlet in the country under the pretext of fighting terrorism, and arrested a large number of journalists. Yohannes considered going into hiding, but decided that he could not abandon his fellow journalists.
Yohannes was arrested and imprisoned. In May 2002, Yohannes 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 Yohannes' death is disputed. While some sources claim that he died on January 11, 2007 following a prolonged illness, exiled opposition party leader Adhanom Gebremariam reported that Yohannes was found dead in his cell on December 13, 2002.
See also
- Dawit IsaakDawit Isaak- External links :*...
(another journalist who wrote for Setit arrested at the same time as Yohannes who is still in prison)