How far is Adra from Zone9?
It’s been too long, and this is the first of what I hope to be more frequent letters, giving you updates on the world outside (there is a lot to report on). I’m writing you now about the Zone9 bloggers, a group of 10 journalists/bloggers (personally, I think the two terms should be seen as nearly synonymous) in Ethiopia who were arrested in April of this year under terrorism charges for their reporting and for taking a course on digital security. They were charged in accordance with the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation which has been widely used to suppress critical voices and criminalize dissent, and stand accused of collaborating with opposition groups in the country who they were, in fact, criticizing in accordance with forming an honest, candid, and civic minded dialogue.
I would imagine you would sympathize with their situation and would join in the call for their release, were you not in prison yourself, and cut off from communications about such topics.
Their trial is beginning on the 4th of August, and today there is a global tweetathon in solidarity with the bloggers and to draw attention to their case.
Here’s a screenshot from Twitter today in searching for the #freezone9bloggers hashtag:
This tweetathon thing is an interesting concept - a similar endeavor was made for your birthday recently. And one would certainly be organized at the time of your trial, were it ever to take place (although for that you would need to be charged, which, like thousands of your fellow prisoners in Syria, has not happened, despite your being locked up for more than 860 days).
In the interest of archives, here’s a screenshot of searching #freebassel on Twitter today:
The name Zone9 is derived from the section in Kality Prison in Addis Ababa where journalists and human rights workers are held, which is called Zone8. Zone9 refers to the invisible prison that the bloggers describe as surrounding all the citizens of Ethiopia, who could be arrested at any time for speaking out.
The bloggers of the group were arrested just 2 days after announcing that they would be returning to blogging after nearly 6 months of silence.
Similar to the Syrian government, the Ethiopian government is among the greatest violators to the right of free expression and has one of the largest and most sophisticated Internet monitoring and filtering systems in the world, as both countries use counterterroism laws as a means to stifle dissent.
Syria has been named as the most dangerous country for journalists, while since 2001, Ethiopia has forced more journalists into exile than any other country.
I’m curious how similar situations are in the prisons as well - does yours have different zones? Do you perceive an invisible prison beyond your walls as well? Given your experiences in prison over the last 2+ years, what would you do in response to the Zone9 bloggers if you were free now?
Like millions of others, I wish for all of these walls to come down - in all countries, and especially the walls inside ourselves, the ones we erect out of fear of retribution and punishment for speaking out, engaging rights we are given by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But who enforces these rights? How can we leverage the digital tools that enable us to come together and show solidarity in order to actually maintain and expand these rights to all people?
I have to end this letter now, but will come back to edit it and add more information, eventually creating a more conclusive conclusion – although, really, a conclusion is not appropriate since this is all ongoing, and will always be (could there ever be a global free press? Or must the press, by definition, always exist in opposition to a censoring body? In such a vision where global freedom of information and knowledge is possible, technologists like yourself in tandem with fearless writers like the Zone9 group are a necessary part of the equation). I will start a new letter with information on the trial, hoping that the solidarity and accountability efforts will have an impact on it. Perhaps from this we could learn about strategies to help you as well.
