Saleh Aljazeeri, who worked at the state broadcaster Dimtsi Hafash and the state Arabic newspaper Eritrea al-Haditha, was arrested in 2002. The exact date of his arrest is unknown.
Like most of those detained in Eritrea, Saleh’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.
Saleh 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 Saleh and Eri-TV’s Hamid Mohamed Said, remained detained, the CPJ delegation learnt.
Eritrean journalists in exile said they suspected the arrest was linked to Saleh’s work, adding that they believed he was being held in Asmara’s Carcelli Prison.
Saleh 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.
Saleh was seen alive in prison in 2006, according to Radio Erena, a France-based station run by exiled Eritrean journalists. Saleh’s son, who fled Eritrea in 2016, told Radio Erena that family members had no information about the journalist’s whereabouts or health.
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 of the journalists arrested in 2001 have died in custody. CPJ confirmed in 2007 that one of the journalists, Fesshaye “Joshua” Yohannes, died in secret detention.
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 Saleh’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.