Career
In 1997, Fasil began her journalistic career at the newspaper Wenchef. The following year, at the age of twenty, she founded her own newspaper, Menilik, put out by her own publishing house. She began another, Asqual, in 2001, and a third, Satenaw, in 2004.
She served Menilik"s deputy editor and the chairwoman of Satenaw"s board.
Fasil and her co-defendants were charged with "treason, outrages against the Constitution and incitement to armed conspiracy". Amnesty International identified her as a prisoner of conscience, who had not advocated or used violence.
She was being held in a Kaliti Prison in Addis Ababa in a rat-, cockroach-, and flea-infested cell. While in prison, Fasil gave birth to her and Eskinder"s son Nafkot.
She donated the prize money to Amnesty International in thanks for helping to secure her release from prison.
