EUROPE - The Göteborg Book Fair will stage exhibitors of a different sort when it throw its doors open tomorrow (27 September).
The Swedish exhibition is being used as the stage for a rally organised by Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, who were released from an Ethiopian prison earlier this month. The journalists plan to use their platform at the Nordic literary event to draw attention to the plight of imprisoned journalists around the world.
Persson and Schibbye were arrested and charged using anti-terror legislation on 1 July 2011 in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, following a battle between Ethiopian forces and the Ogaden National Liberation Front, regarded by Ethiopia as a terrorist organisation. Both denied any involvement in terrorism.
The reporters will stand side-by-side with several other high-profile participants, including chairman of the Swedish Union of Journalists Jonas Nordling, Swedish chairman of Reporters Without Borders Lotta Schüllerqvist, and Esayas Isaak, the brother of Dawit Isaak, a journalist imprisoned in Eritrea since 2001.
The rally is organized by the Swedish Union of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.
The Göteborg Book Fair is the largest book fair in the Nordic region, attracting 100,000 visitors every year. The exhibition runs until 30 September at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, which claims its recent expansion will make it the largest facility in Europe.
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