Amnesty International battles Eritrea

How sad it is to lose a loved one.

It’s even sadder when that loss is not to death but to an oppressive government.

That’s the case of 21 journalists and politicians presently in Eritrea.

They were arrested 20 years ago and Amnesty International is now trying to secure their immediate and unconditional freedom with its new campaign, #WhereAreEritreasDissidents.

The arrests of the journalists between 21 and 23 September 2001 followed the arrest on 18 September 2001 of politicians popularly known as G-15 and the banning of independent media after they had published an open letter urging reforms.

“It’s unconscionable that these brave prisoners of conscience are still languishing in jail 20 years since they were arrested for exercising their human rights with no word from the authorities on their current circumstances, and that the ban on independent media remains in place,” Deprose Muchena, Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Amnesty International, said. 

“Days have turned into months, months into years and now years have turned into decades of unending anguish for these detainees, their families and loved ones. We call on President Isaias Afewerki to take meaningful steps to bring an end to this travesty of justice.”

The journalists in question are Dawit Isaak, Seyoum Tsehaye, Dawit Habtemichael, Mattewos Habteab, Fesseaye “Joshua” Yohannes, Amanuel Asrat and Temesegn Gebreyesus, Said Abdelkader, Yosuf Muhamed Ali and Medhanie Haile.

The politicians – all members of Afewerki’s ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) – include former Vice-President Mahmoud Ahmed Sheriffo and his wife; independence war heroine, Aster Fissehatsion; and former foreign ministers Haile Woldetensae and Petros Solomon.

Nine of the politicians and journalists have previously been reported to have died in detention, a claim the Eritrean authorities refuse to confirm.

“There are also many other politicians, journalists and activists that were arrested and detained without charge before September 2001 and since then and they must be released too,” Muchena added.

Some of the high-profile detainees in Eritrea include former Finance Minister Berhane Abraha, who was arrested in September 2018 following his publication of a book considered critical of President Afewerki, and Ciham Ali, the daughter of the defected former Minister of Information, Ali Abdu, who was arrested in 2012 aged 15 as she tried to flee the country.

AI has also documented Eritrea’s extremely poor prison conditions. They’re generally overcrowded with inadequate water and sanitation facilities and provide poor quality food and drinking water.