Reeyot Alemu

Reeyot Alemu is an Ethiopian journalist who served a 5-year prison sentence following an unfair trial in which anti-terrorism laws were used to silence her writing. She won the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 2013.

Biography Reeyot Alemu was born in 1980. She was a high school teacher until 2000, when she started working as a columnist for several local newspapers including the independent weekly newspaper Feteh. She was serving a five-year term at Kaliti Prison.

Reeyot was released on July 9, 2015, after serving four years.

Awards

In 2012, the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) bestowed a Courage in Journalism Award on her in absentia for her “refusal to self-censor in a place where that practice is standard, and her unwillingness to apologize for truth-telling, even though contrition could win her freedom.” She has also won Hellman/Hammett press freedom prize.

In May 2013, she was awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to honor her exceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression.