A certain Sophia Tesfamariam, an apologist for the Isaias Afwerki regime, has defamed the founder of awate.com, Mr. Saleh Gadi (Johar.)  We, and experts we have consulted on the subject, believe that her defamation is a clear case of libel.

As he indicated in his Negarit column , Mr. Saleh Gadi (Johar) has decided to seek legal recourse and he has indicated that he will do so only if we can raise the necessary funds to hire a lawyer and pursue the matter in a court of law.

Over the last four weeks, we have received a great deal of correspondence from supporters who have pledged their support to this cause.  In the spirit of transparency, we want to tell our readers the strategy that we are pursuing:

1.  Set up an Awate Defense Committee:  We are raising funds for the sole purpose of legal defense.  We want to ensure that these funds are being used exclusively for such purpose and we want our readers to know that this is the case.  Therefore, before we collect a single penny, we want to establish such a committee, expeditiously.   If you are interested in being a member of the Awate Defense Committee, please send us your contact information (name, address, phone number, email) to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  

2. Fundraising Co-Chair:   Many of you have indicated that you would like to chair a fundraising activity or event in your specific area.  If you would like to be a co-chair for fundraising, please send us your contact information (name, address, phone number, email) to  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  

3. Expertise:  If you have information that will assist our case—legal, political, financial—but you do not want to be a member of any committee, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  

4. Individual Donation:  There will be a mechanism for individuals to make donations—via credit card, debit card, checks or e-checks.  We are in the process of identifying the most efficient and the most accountable way to generate these funds and we will update you as soon as we do.

5. All pro justice individuals, regardless of their affiliations, are invited to be part of this endeavor.

Every indication that we are getting is that this will be an expensive endeavor.  But as many of you outraged readers have told us, there are some things that are worth fighting for —even if the cost is high.  We are counting on your motivation, your fighting spirit to register, at long last, a victory for the forces of good against the defamers.

Please hold on to your motivation.

Thank you

Awate Team

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