In 2010, Surafel Assefa Hailesilassie, a young TV producer in Ethiopia, witnessed election observers rigging ballots in favor of the ruling party during a parliamentary vote in the nation’s capital Addis Ababa.

“The cameraman who was with me filmed the scenes and I interviewed six people exposing the election fraud,” Hailesilassie, now living in South Korea as a refugee, told The Korea Herald. 

Just two years into his career, Hailesilassie was a fierce journalist, believing in his role as “the eyes and the ears of the society for the public.”

“As I insisted it must be aired, a deputy mayor of Addis Ababa pointed a gun at my head. He said he would kill me if I don’t keep quiet. He took away my video recording,” he said.

Since then, Hailesilassie’s professional conscience was continuously suppressed, compromised and even muted as the political situation in press freedom in his home country became worse.

“I was scared. I received many tip-offs on corruption involving ranking officials, but I had to stay away from them,” he recalled.

Then in August 2011, covering the World Championships in Athletics in Daegu he decided to flee from the political oppression back home. He applied for asylum here.

But life in South Korea was far from easy. 

“I didn’t know anybody. I had no shelter, no money. I was hungry and lived on water and sugar to survive while the refugee application was underway,” he recalled. “I worked part-time illegally mostly at factories in Seoul and Ansan.”

At the time, the South Korean government provided no livelihood support to asylum seekers.

The country introduced the Refugee Act only in 2015, which stipulates provision of a minimum level of humanitarian protection for asylum seekers and refugees. Among other things, it offers asylum seekers legitimate work permits. 

Discrimination was just something he had to live with every day.

“My bosses and co-workers called me a ‘son of bitch’ many times. I asked them to call my name, but I was refused,” he said. “I had to put up with it because I could not afford to be in trouble.”

The refugee screening process was also not without problems. What he wanted to say was lost in translation, he said.

“The immigration officer in charge of my case was hostile to me. He treated me like a criminal, suspecting my former career and credentials.”

His first application was rejected by the Justice Ministry. He appealed, and was finally grated refugee status on Dec. 26 in 2013.

If the appeal process was unsuccessful, he might have had to fight for refugee status through court proceedings, which usually take up to three years. 

While expressing gratitude for the recognition, Hailesilassie said: “I hope that the refugee application system here could be quicker. Trapped in the long process, asylum seekers kill their time, youth and hope.”

As one of the lucky ones living in a free and safe land, the Ethiopian said he had a job to do. For him, getting refugee status is not only about saving his life; it is about extending the fight for a better future for his country and people.

He now has a younger brother and sister living with him in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. They are seeking asylum here as both of them were under threat and detained in Ethiopia on charges of helping their elder brother leave the country.

“No one is actually free and safe until all of us are free and safe,” he said.

As a member of Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, he has raised awareness of the brutality of his country’s ruling regime by running social media campaigns and holding rallies here.

“We want to share the problems facing Ethiopia -- mass killings, torture, genocide, restriction of press freedom and civic movement -- and expose the situation there to foreign donor nations,” he said. “We want to be the voice of the voiceless in Ethiopia.”

“Also, we are targeting Ethiopians within Ethiopia. They are usually uneducated and unaware of why they are hungry and how to fix it.”

During the US Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Korea on April 17, they staged a protest in front of the National Assembly building to call on the US to stop offering foreign aid to the Ethiopian government.

The ruling government -- a US ally in its fight against terrorist group Al-Shabab in Somalia -- has received significant financial assistance from the US and European countries, with its economy heavily dependent on foreign aid.

“Foreign powers should stop financing the authoritarian government to save Ethiopian people because the money goes into the pockets of high-ranking officials,” he said.

Many foreign donors to Ethiopia have been criticized by human rights activists for being silent about Ethiopia’s human rights abuses for the sake of protecting their strategic partnerships on peacekeeping and security with the ruling regime.

The European Parliament issued in January 2016 a resolution on the situation in Ethiopia. One of its pledges was to keep a close eye on the use of funds from European development assistance “to make sure that none of it trickles off to the central government to be used to prolong the suppression of its own people.”

Recalling the peaceful candlelight vigils that continued for several months in South Korea against President Park Geun-hye, Hailessilassie said, “That is the democracy and freedom I want to bring back home.”

“When I see you guys holding protests freely and peacefully, it was just so amazing for me. We would be shot by police if we raise our voices against the government in public,” he said.

“If we could get freedom today, I would go back to my country right now. I like my job as a journalist. I like to speak my own language. I want to live with my family and pursue my culture in my land,” he said.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)