They said that I was a radical. They said I preached sedition. They said I was a traitor to my country. They called me the beautiful anti-government journalist. They said that I had been warned over and over again, but I refused to listen.They said that the time to take responsibility for the damage I had done had come.Yes, That’s what the prosecutors said about me.
There was no defense team defending me. There was no jury. There was no judge, Just a military tribunal to decide whether I was innocent or guilty. What a joke. But it wasn’t so funny.I was being judged by the same people who had charged me. Ever since this government had come back into power, martial law became the only law in this polarized country. Regular citizens were now patrolling the streets with AK rifles. They decided what was right and wrong, they did whatever ….there were no consequences. The consequences were for those who didn’t think like them.
I had lost my job at the newspaper soon after the new government took over. I guess they didn't appreciate my reports about the brutal treatment, imprisonment and deportation of immigrants, those of alternative religious beliefs, and those who opposed this “ government of the people.”
When I continued telling, about the flogging of women,
forced servitude, and executions on social media; I must have pushed the wrong button.
I tried to tell all those watching my televised trial about the wrongs committed by the government against citizens of our country. For my outburst, I was gagged and chained to my chair. It didn’t take long for the three military officers to find me guilty.
I was sentenced to be part of the Independence Day festivities. I was to be the headliner of twenty people being punished. It was to be televised nationwide. I was to be whipped naked, 100 strokes.
Then branded with a hot iron. A large “T” for traitor. I was spared prison, but instead relegated to work in the fields. There weren’t any migrant workers anymore. They had all been deported. Just criminals toiling under the lash of the government overseers.