Hamid Mohamed Said, an editor for the Arabic-language service of the state-owned broadcaster Eri-TV, was arrested in 2002. Like most of those detained in Eritrea, Hamid’s whereabouts, health, and legal status remain unknown as the government has repeatedly failed to provide credible answers to questions about imprisoned journalists or to allow visits from family or lawyers.
Hamid was among three journalists working for government media who were arrested for unclear reasons around February 15, 2002, a CPJ delegation learned from local sources during a July 2002 fact-finding mission to the Eritrean capital, Asmara. Eri-TV journalist Saadia Ahmed was later released, while Hamid and Saleh Aljazeeri, who worked at the state broadcaster Dimtsi Hafash and the state Arabic newspaper Eritrea al-Haditha, remained detained, the CPJ delegation learnt.
Hamid was arrested in the wake of a government crackdown on independent media following a ban on the privately owned press on September 18, 2001, in response to growing criticism of President Isaias Afwerki. In the weeks that followed, about 13 journalists were taken into custody after several of them wrote to the Ministry of Information demanding clarification on the government’s sudden decision.
Over the years, Eritrean officials have offered vague and inconsistent explanations for the arrests of journalists — accusing them of involvement in anti-state conspiracies in connection with foreign intelligence, skirting military service, and violating press regulations. Officials, at times, even denied that the journalists existed.
Meanwhile, shreds of often unverifiable, second- or third-hand information smuggled out by people fleeing into exile suggested that seven journalists arrested in 2001 had died in custody.
Amnesty International said in 2002 that the three state-run media journalists had reportedly been arrested for advocating for greater prominence for the Arabic language in programming and for criticizing the government’s language policy.
In 2014, local journalists who had fled into exile told CPJ that Hamid was still in prison.
In 2018, Paulos Netabay, director of the state-owned Eritrean News Agency, told CPJ that the arrest of other journalists in 2001 was connected to “subversion and treason by some former politicians” and would be dealt with by parliament but he made no mention of Hamid’s case.
In a May 2024 report, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, expressed concern about prolonged, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and said that the Eritreans arrested in 2001 were the “longest-detained journalists in the world,” imprisoned for almost 23 years without charges or trial.
As of late 2024, CPJ had yet to receive any replies to emails requesting comment from information minister Yemane Ghebremeskel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice.