Johan Karl Persson (born March 3, 1982) is a Swedish photographer who was sentenced to eleven years in prison for the so-called terrorist crimes in Ethiopia on December 27, 2011 by the Ethiopian brutal regime Kangaroo court, but who was later released on 10 September 2012. He was honorary speaker at the Annual Grand Swedish Journalists Prize ceremony held on 22 November 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden. Johan Persson used the platform to inform about the risk of sending Ethiopian journalists to the hands of killer regime in Ethiopia at the moment. Below are the English text of his speech followed by the Video including his colleague, Martin Schibbye's interview.
"I and Martin Schibbye met Reeyot Alemu and Wubshet Taye, during our 2 months detention at Makelawi Prison. We were lucky for not being in Kality any more but there are other colleagues still sitting at that prison accused of terrorism and some of them even might risk 20 years jail term. Ethiopia jailed these journalists for writing criticizing stories. We appreciate the support forwarded by the Swedish public and government for our release but let us not forget exiled Ethiopian journalists in Sweden who showed their solidarity by writing stories in Amharic to inform the Ethiopian people about our cases. Sweden Welcomes asylum seekers to come and get protection but many of them can't afford to come here. Theodros is one of exiled Ethiopian journalists who publishes articles criticizing the Ethiopian regime and as a result access to his blog is blocked in Ethiopia and 2 of his colleagues are in jail. Sadly, his asylum request was rejected and may risk to be sent back to Ethiopia. Please don't send any body to kality prison. Thanks"
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