Zemenfes Haile, Tsigenay
Imprisoned: January 1999
Sometime in early 1999, Haile, founder and manager of the private weekly Tsigenay, was detained by Eritrean authorities and sent to Zara Labor Camp in the country’s lowland desert. Authorities accused Haile of failing to complete the National Service Program, but sources told CPJ that the journalist completed the program in 1994.
Near the end of 2000, Haile was transferred to an unknown location. CPJ sources say he was released from prison in 2002 but was sent to the army and is still doing national service. CPJ sources in Eritrea believe that Haile’s continued deprivation of liberty is part of the government’s general crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001.
Ghebrehiwet Keleta, Tsigenay
Imprisoned: July 2000
Keleta, reporter for the private weekly Tsigenay, was kidnapped by security agents on his way to work sometime in July 2000 and has not been seen since. The reasons for Keleta’s arrest remain unclear, but some CPJ sources believe that Keleta’s continued detention is part of the government’s general crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001.
Selamyinghes Beyene, Meqaleh
Imprisoned: Fall 2001
Beyene, reporter for the independent weekly Meqaleh, was arrested sometime in the fall of 2001. CPJ was unable to confirm the reasons for his arrest, but Eritrean sources believe that his detention is part of the government’s general crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001. In 2002 he was taken to do military service, and is still performing his national service requirement, according to CPJ sources.
Amanuel Asrat, Zemen
Imprisoned: in the days following the clampdown of September 18, 2001
Medhanie Haile, Keste Debena
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
Yusuf Mohamed Ali, Tsigenay
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
Mattewos Habteab, Meqaleh
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
Temesken Ghebreyesus, Keste Debena
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
Said Abdelkader, Admas
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
Dawit Isaac, Setit
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
Isaac has Swedish as well as Eritrean citizenship. Efforts by the Swedish government to get him released have been to no avail, while Swedish officials and diplomats have not been allowed to visit him in prison, according to CPJ sources.
Seyoum Tsehaye, freelance
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
Dawit Habtemichael, Meqaleh
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
Fesshaye “Joshua” Yohannes, Setit
Imprisoned: in the days following September 18, 2001
In the days following September 18, 2001, Eritrean security forces arrested at least 10 local journalists. The arrests came less than a week after authorities abruptly closed all privately owned newspapers, allegedly to safeguard national unity in the face of growing political turmoil in the tiny Horn of Africa nation.
International news reports quoted presidential adviser Yemane Gebremeskel as saying that the journalists could have been arrested for avoiding military service. Sources in the capital, Asmara, however, say that at least two of the detained journalists, freelance photographer Tsehaye and Mohamed Ali, editor of Tsigenay, are legally exempt from national service. Tsehaye is reportedly exempt because he is an independence war veteran, while Mohamed Ali is apparently well over the maximum age for military service.
CPJ sources in Asmara maintain that the suspension and subsequent arrests of independent journalists were part of a full-scale government effort to suppress political dissent in advance of December 2001 elections, which the government canceled without explanation.
On March 31, 2002, the 10 jailed reporters began a hunger strike to protest their continued detention without charge, according to local and international sources. In a message smuggled from inside the Police Station One detention center in Asmara, the journalists said they would refuse food until they were either released or charged and given a fair trial. Three days later, nine of the strikers were transferred to an undisclosed detention facility. According to CPJ sources, Swedish national Isaac, was sent to a hospital, where he was treated for posttraumatic stress disorder, a result of alleged torture while in police custody.
During a July 2002 fact-finding mission to Asmara, a presidential official told a CPJ delegation that only “about eight” news professionals were being held in detention facilities, whose locations he refused to disclose.
Hamid Mohammed Said, Eritrean State Television
Imprisoned: February 15, 2002
Saleh Aljezeeri, Eritrean State Radio
Imprisoned: February 15, 2002
During a July 2002 fact-finding mission to the capital, Asmara, CPJ delegates confirmed that around February 15, Eritrean authorities arrested Said, a journalist for the state-run Eritrean State Television (ETV); Saadia Ahmed, a journalist with the Arabic-language service of ETV; and Aljezeeri, a journalist for Eritrean State Radio. Ahmed was released, according to CPJ sources, although the date is unclear.
The reasons for their arrests are unclear, but CPJ sources in Eritrea believe that their continued detention is related to the government’s general crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001.