Reeyot Alemu was born in 1980.[3] She was a high school teacher until 2000, when she started working as a columnist for several local newspapers including the independent weekly newspaperFeteh.[1] In 2010, she founded her own publishing house and became the editor in chief of her own monthly magazine calledChange, both of which were closed.[3] Her articles covered social and political affairs as well as poverty and gender issues.
In June 2011, she was arrested by Ethiopian authorities on charges of terrorism, for which she was convicted and sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment and a fine of 33,000birrs (US$1,850).[4]
In August 2012, an appeals court subsequently reduced the 14-year prison sentence to 5 years and dropped most of the terrorism charges against her.[5] She was serving a five-year term atKaliti Prison.
Reeyot was released on July 9, 2015, after serving four years.[6]
In 2012, theInternational Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) bestowed aCourage 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.”[4] She has also won Hellman/Hammett press freedom prize.[7]
