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Jailed in Eritrea as a spy after interviewing U.S. ambassador

By Leonard Doyle on April 30, 2010 11:55 PM

Being the first Eritrean reporter ever arrested for doing his job is an odd claim to fame: "I was arrested right after I interviewed the U.S. ambassador to Eritrea," said Milkias M. Yohannes now exiled to the US.

"I was accused of being a CIA spy. From my colleagues who were there with me, one is in jail. We don't know if the other is still alive."

Yohannes spoke at "Truth Teller," a new series of talks featuring reporters in exile taking the stand on the dangers they faced in their home countries run by Reporters Without Borders.

Eritrea, independent since 1993, is now the continent's biggest prison for the press. It ranked last in the latest annual World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders.

A lawyer by trade, Yohannes is the founder of Kestedebena, one of the Eritrea's largest independent newspapers until it was shut down during the 2001 government crackdown.

Continue reading... Jailed in Eritrea as a spy after interviewing U.S. ambassador.

In African hot spots, journalists forced into exile

By Basildon Peta, Africa Editor on March 8, 2010 2:10 PM

Al-Shabaab militants patrol Mogadishu's Bakara Market, home to several media outlets. (Reuters/Feisal Omar)
By Tom Rhodes

High numbers of local journalists have fled several African countries in recent years after being assaulted, threatened, or imprisoned, leaving a deep void in professional reporting. The starkest examples are in the Horn of Africa nations of Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, where dozens of journalists have been forced into exile. Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and the Gambia have also lost large segments of the local press corps in the face of intimidation and violence.