EFF: Imprisoned Blogger Eskinder Nega Won’t Sign a False Confession
Imprisoned Blogger Eskinder Nega Won’t Sign a False Confession Online publisher and blogger Eskinder Nega has been imprisoned in Ethiopia since September 2011 for the “crime” of writing articles critical of his government. He is one of the longest-serving prisoners in EFF’s Offline casefile of writers and activists unjustly imprisoned for their work online. Now a chance he may finally be freed has been thrown into doubt because of the Ethiopian authorities’ outrageous demand that he sign a false confession before being released. The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, announced in January surprise plans to close down the notorious Maekelawi detention center and release a number of prisoners. The Prime Minister said that the move was intended to “foster national reconciliation.” While Ethiopia’s own officials have declined to call the recipients of the amnesty “political prisoners,” the bulk of the candidates named so far for release are either opposition politici...