Eritrean Diaspora urged
to intercede on behalf of imprisoned
journalists on 2,000th day since “Black
Tuesday"
-
With the number of
days since Eritrea’s “Black
Tuesday” of 18 September 2001 about to
reach 2,000, Reporters Without Borders
today urged the Eritrean Diaspora to
demand an explanation from the
government in Asmara for the
disappearance of at least 14
journalists in the country’s prisons,
four of whom are feared dead.
“Tomorrow will be the 2,000th day since
President Issaias Afeworki ordered all the
privately-owned newspapers to stop
publishing and proceeded to arrest all the
leading journalists in the capital,”
Reporters Without Borders said. “The
Eritrean Diaspora, which played a key role
in supporting the independence war, must
today make its voice heard and insist that
President Issaias respect the country’s
constitution and laws.”
The press freedom organization added: “He
must immediately provide an explanation
for the disappearance of prisoners of
conscience and free those who have not
already succumbed to the appalling
condition in his country’s prisons.”
In a series of dawn raids on Tuesday, 18
September 2001, the police arrested 10
leading politicians, legislators, former
ministers and independence war veterans
who had signed a petition calling for
democracy in Eritrea. The eight
Asmara-based privately-owned newspapers
were ordered to stop appearing.
At least 10 journalists were arrested in
the days that followed. They included
Fessehaye “Joshua” Yohannes, a leading
playwright, Setit journalist and
independence war veteran who died on 11
January 2007 in Eiraeiro, a secret
military prison in the northeast of the
country; Dawit Isaac, a poet and
playwright with dual Eritrean-Swedish
citizenship, and co-founder of the
country’s most popular weekly, Setit, of
whom there has been no news since he was
rearrested after a brief release in
November 2005; and Dawit Habtemichael, a
physics professor at Asmara university and
deputy editor of Meqaleh, who was arrested
on the street as he was going back to
teach after several days in hiding.
They also included Mattewos Habteab,
founder and editor of Meqaleh, who had
just been released after six weeks in
Asmara’s military prison; former national
TV director Seyoum Tsehaye, a onetime
French teacher who became a freelance
photographer after learning the trade as a
pro-independence guerrilla; Emanuel Asrat,
a former independence war fighter,
agronomy graduate and editor of Zemen; and
Temesghen Gebreyesus, a sports journalist
and member of the board of Keste Debena,
who was arrested on 20 September 2001.
According to information obtained by
Reporters Without Borders, three other
journalists, in addition to Fessehaye,
have died in recent years in the Eiraeiro
detention centre, where a total of nine
journalists were reportedly being held.
Tsigenay editor Yusuf Mohamed Ali, a
former guerrilla combatant in his 50s, is
believed to have died in 13 June 2006.
Keste Debena co-founder and deputy editor
Medhanie Haile, a law graduate, who was
arrested at his home on 18 September 2001,
reportedly died in February 2006. And
Admas founder and editor Said Abdulkader,
who co-owned a printing company with his
father, is said to have died in March
2005.
In February 2002, at a time when the
political climate was particularly
oppressive and European Union ambassadors
had been “recalled for consultation,”
three journalists with state media
Arabic-language services, the last to be
able to operate in Eritrea, joined the
list of political prisoners. They were
Hamid Mohamed Said of Eri-TV’s sports and
international sections, Saidia Ahmed, a
young TV journalist, and Saleh Al Jezaeeri
of Radio Dimtsi Hafash and the Haddas
Eritrea daily newspaper. The reasons for
their arrests are unclear.
More recently, 10 state media journalists
were picked up in wave of arrests launched
on 12 November 2006 following the
defection of several leading journalists
which particularly irked the authorities.
They were arrested on suspicion of
maintaining contact with the fugitives or
trying to flee themselves. All except
Daniel Musie of Radio Dimtsi Hafash’s
Oromo-language service were later freed on
bail but have been kept under surveillance
in Asmara.
It is not known what has become of the
journalists still held. Their families are
not allowed to visit them and are afraid
to request news of them for fear of
reprisals. As for the journalists who have
managed to flee the country, some of their
relatives have been expelled from their
homes, or arrested. Some are being held at
the Adit Beto prison complex on the road
north out of Asmara.
The National Press Club of Sweden awarded
its Press and Free Speech Prize to Setit
co-founder Dawit Isaac on 2 March. It will
be presented to his family on 14 March,
the 2,000th day since his arrest on 23
September 2001. According to information
obtained by Reporters Without Borders, he
is still alive and is being held in
Asmara.
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