Once the editor and publisher of one of Ethiopia’s most popular newspapers, Eskinder Nega was jailed for 17 months after the country’s disputed 2005 elections. Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience. Following his release, the Ethiopian government refused to grant him or his wife Serkalem Fasil licenses to reopen their publications.

In 2007, the couple donated winnings from Serkalem’s Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation to Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists. In 2010, on the eve of Ethiopia’s last national election, the country’s Supreme Court ruled they and other publishers must pay steep fines dating to the government’s treason case against them and other journalists from 2005.

Though Eskinder holds a U.S. residence permit, he and his family have refused to flee Ethiopia, despite repeated encouragement from government officials. Unable to publish domestically, Eskinder became a popular online columnists and one of the few journalists in Ethiopia to offer independent commentary on political events in the country. He is the face of Internet censorship in a country that is among the leading online censors in sub-Saharan Africa and an apparent victim of the government’s effort to prevent the spread of the ‘Arab Spring’ to Ethiopia.

Ron Singer, an American author who has interviewed numerous journalists in countries with restrictive media environments, conducted a lengthy interview with Eskinder prior to his arrest for the South African news site Pambazuka. It describes why he refuses to leave the country, and why he thinks it’s important to continue writing.