Aaron Berhane

Aaron Berhane was the founder and editor-in-chief of the largest independent newspaper in the violent dictatorship of Eritrea. When the government ordered a crackdown on journalists, Aaron saw a dozen of his friends and colleagues arrested and impisoned without legal recourse or medical aid. All are still in prison or dead. He was able to escape across the border into Sudan under a hail of bullets from border guards and eventually arrived in Canada. Aaron founded Meftih, a newspaper for the Eritrean community in Canada, campaigned for his fellow journalists who were still imprisoned in Eritrea, completed a master’s degree at Ryerson University, became a professor at George Brown College, and was leader of the Writers-in-Exile Committee of PEN Canada. On May 1, 2021, Aaron suddenly, tragically passed away from covid-19 at the age of fifty-one, leaving behind his wife and three children.