Journalist Teresa Toda was deputy editor of the Basque daily Egin closed by order of judge Baltasar Garzon in 1998 24 February 2012 Journalist Teresa Toda has sent out from the jail where she is kept a prisoner a letter to Kurdish journalists in jail in Turkey. She is currently in prison in Cordoba, some 900 kilometres from her house. Teresa Toda was born in Porto Alegre, Brasil, the daughter of a diplomatic member when Spain was ruled by dictator Francisco Franco. Teresa has traveled a lot and finally landed in Spain, Madrid before moving to the Basque country. She learned Basque and started working for the Basque left press. She became deputy editor of the Basque daily Egin which was closed by order of judge Baltasar Garzon in 1998. Teresa Toda to whom was asking her about her incrimination responded "Why Egin for judge Baltasar Garzon is ETA ? Well, because it defends the same political objectives ETA defends, that is socialism, independence, because it exposed the torture committed by the state, the prisoners' condition". Here is the text of the letter she sent to the Kurdish journalists in prison in Turkey and to the Kurdish PEN. To Kurdish journalists To Kurdish Pen Club Dear colleagues, I have learned of massive arrests of Kurdish journalists and the shutting down of newspapers and radio stations as well as long jail sentences imposed on several journalists. I myself am a Basque journalist imprisoned in a Spanish jail under a 6 years sentence for working in the Basque independentist newspaper Egin, which was shut down by about 300 policemen almost 14 years ago. The editor in chief, Jabier Salutregi, 8 members of the board and myself were sentenced, in 2007, to jail sentences ranging from 6 to 10 years. I would like to express my heartfelt solidarity with each and everyone of the Kurdish journalists hit by this savage action of the Turkish government. I wish I could do something for all of you! Journalists who believe in true freedom of speech, in the importance of informing our peoples of all that which the governments that oppress us would like to keep silent, are always liable to be taken to court and prison by those same governments. But, in spite of allhardships and troubles, free peoples' press will prevail, freedom of speech and information being a very powerful weapon in the struggle for our countries' freedom! In solidarity, Teresa Toda http://www.firatnews.org/english/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=4198
