The events of September 2001 |
In May 2001 a group of 15 senior PFDJ officials published an open letter to party members describing and making proposals for solving what it calls the “crisis of Eritrea ”. The letter states it is “a call for correction, a call for peaceful and democratic dialogue, a call for strengthening and consolidation, a call for unity, a call for the rule of law and for justice, through peaceful and legal ways and means.” Amongst other things, the letter was a reminder to PFDJ members of the constitutional obligations the authors claim the President of Eritrea (and the PFDJ) is under to call internal meetings of the party, follow correct parliamentary and government procedures and follow up on a number of promises the party had made, particularly judicial reform.
In August 2001 the Secretary General of PFDJ accused the 15 of attempting to destabilize the country. The 15 replied in a letter published on 14 August 2001 in the privately owned newspaper, Setit , where they called on the Eritrean people to help solve the country's problems. They described the economic conditions in the country, and said that in order to solve this the government must allow a free exchange of ideas and full participation of the people in discussing these issues.
On the night of 18-19 September 2001, 11 of the G15 were arrested. They have been held as prisoners of conscience in secret incommunicado detention ever since. Three were abroad at the time of the arrests and now lead a new exile opposition group, the EPLF- Democratic Party. The last signatory has retracted his support for the group.
On 18 September the government also suspended the entire independent press. Ten days later 10 leading journalists who had written to the Minister of Information protesting about the suspension were arrested. They were initially taken to an Asmara police station where they received food from their families, although no visits or correspondence were allowed. On 31 March 2002 they began a hunger strike, demanding that they either be given a fair trial before an independent court, or be released. Three days later, as the hunger strike began to attract international attention, nine of the 10 were moved to an undisclosed place of detention and one, Dawit Isaac, was taken to hospital. Nothing has been heard of them since.
They were detained because they published articles critical of the government and we consider them to be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned solely because of their legitimate professional work as journalists. Since September more journalists have been arrested, including three who worked for the government owned press. There are now 15 journalists in detention as prisoners of conscience – one of the highest numbers in the world.
There was considerable international criticism of the September arrests, including from AI, Human Rights Watch, international media bodies such as Reporteurs Sans Frontiers and the Committee to Protect Journalists, and donor embassies. The EU Dean and Italian Ambassador were expelled on account of an EU demarche on behalf of the detainees and all the other EU diplomats withdrew in protest. When the US embassy protested, the government detained two of its Eritrean staff, who are still held incommunicado without charge.
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