Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Last Wednesday, I left Johannesburg to go to Ethiopia. The primary purpose of my visit was to address a conference on an enabling environment for civil society in Ethiopia organised by a CIVICUS member, The Forum for Social Studies. A day earlier, a delegation including the former Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, Salil Shetty of the UN Millennium Campaign, and CIVICUS Board member Marta Cumbi from Mozambique, met with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia to appeal for the release of Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie. Clare Doube, CIVICUS Civil Society Watch Manager, also travelled with the delegation to support their trip. 

As you may recall, Daniel and Netsanet are both civil society leaders and co-ordinators of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in Ethiopia. They have been detained for the last two years and five months for their peaceful civil society work, particularly related to their involvement in co-ordinating legitimate election monitoring activities by local civil society organisations during the May 2005 election. Since then, CIVICUS and GCAP, along with many other organisations around the world, have been calling for their release. I was in Ethiopia for their trial and sentencing between 23-27 December. At that time we were hopeful that they would be acquitted. While they were acquitted of the charge of outrage against the constitution which carried a potential death penalty, they were convicted on a lesser charge of incitement. 

Daniel and Netsanet were on trial with 129 other defendants and after the prosecution finally presented their case against them in April 2006, the Presiding Judge ruled that they did not have a case to answer. Unfortunately, the two associated judges ruled against them. In July last year, all the defendants were promised their freedom if they signed a document attesting to their guilt and an undertaking not to run for public office. Daniel and Netsanet took the brave decision not to sign, since they maintained their innocence and felt that signing such a document, while offering them their freedom, would have criminalised the work of civil society in Ethiopia. I was in court on 26 December when they were sentenced to two and half years in prison. Given that they had served more than two years already, we were hopeful they would be released on parole earlier this year, but that did not happen, and a recent appeal from the prosecution team raised fears that their detention period could be extended. 

During the cordial and positive meeting with the Prime Minister last Tuesday, he said that he would recommend a pardon for Daniel and Netsanet. Soon afterwards, we heard that the two pending appeals (one from Daniel and Netsanet, and the other from the prosecution) had been withdrawn, paving the way for their pardon and release. During the meeting with the Prime Minister, the Archbishop had requested that I be allowed to visit them in prison when I arrived on Thursday, as we had done the last time we met the Prime Minister in April 2006. Visits to prisoners by foreigners are the exception, and we were grateful to receive this permission.  

I spent 90 precious minutes with Daniel and Netsanet last Thursday, briefing them on recent developments and reflecting on the possibility that their release might be imminent, without raising their hopes. Unlike my last visit with them together with Salil Shetty in 2006, this time they laughed a lot. Both had lost a lot of weight but were in good spirits. 

On Friday morning, I addressed the conference on strategies for strengthening civil society in Ethiopia, which was attended by Netsanet’s sister and Daniel’s partner, Yemi. This ordeal has had a devastating event on their respective families and on Netsanet’s partner, Pepa. For Yemi it was a double whammy, since her brother and partner were both in prison. Yemi called shortly after lunch saying she was coming to fetch me since we needed to go to prison to pick up Daniel and Netsanet. I could hear from Yemi’s voice that she did not quite want to believe it until they eventually walked out of prison. 

At the prison we met many family members, fellow NGO activists and Pepa. It seemed like we were waiting for eternity before Daniel and Netsanet walked out of prison with huge smiles on their faces. 

Netsanet greeted family members and his mum and walked into the arms of Pepa, his partner, who had stood by him throughout his time in prison. Daniel did likewise. Yemi, who had been a pillar of strength throughout this ordeal, could not hold back the tears. 

I have had some wonderful moments engaging with civil society colleagues in many countries around the world during my time as CIVICUS Secretary General. However, I can safely say, that as I struggled to hold back my own tears, this was an intensely emotional moment and one that I will remember for the rest of my life. While we mourn the loss of those two-and-a-half years they unnecessarily spent in prison, we are thrilled they are finally free and reunited with their loved ones once more. 

I would like to take this moment to pay tribute not only to Daniel and Netsanet and their courage and commitment to Ethiopia and social justice causes, but also to their partners, Yemi and Pepa, their mothers whose joy outside the prison cannot quite be described, and their wider family and friends who have stood so resolutely beside them in their struggle. I feel incredibly privileged to have been there to witness that moment when they were reunited. This was by far my most special day at CIVICUS. 

I know that many of you have been closely following the case over the last few years and so wanted to share this personal reflection with you all, as well as to thank you for all your support. Many of you have been involved in our solidarity events and campaigns in different ways - from signing postcards at the CIVICUS World Assembly, to organising International Days of Solidarity, joining us in meetings with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and other leaders, writing letters to raise our concerns with the authorities, paying tribute to Daniel and Netsanet during your events, sending messages of support to their families at Christmas, and forwarding press releases and alerts on their case. Please know that each of these actions has contributed to their freedom. From Kampala to Geneva to Accra and beyond, your actions and support have made the difference. 

Let us take courage and inspiration from this - not only that freedom is theirs once again, but that truth and justice has reigned supreme. Thank you for standing with us in support of Daniel and Netsanet and I know that you will stand with us again as we wish them and their families all best wishes for resuming their lives again.