Eritrea: Ali Abdu pleads ignorance of Dawit Isaac’s fate
On Wednesday, the Swedish newspaper Expressen published what it described as an exclusive interview with Ali Abdu–Eritrea’s long-time information minister, government spokesman, and censor-in-chief–who vanished from public view in November. The piece confirmed that Ali had gone into exile, but it shed no light on the whereabouts and well-being of more than two dozen imprisoned…
For exiled Eritreans in Sudan, fear greater than most
With the launch of CPJ’s most recent exile report, I will have worked exactly three years for our Journalist Assistance program. More than 500 cases later, I have helped journalists who have gone into hiding or exile to escape threats; those in need of medicine and other support while in prison, and journalists injured after…
CPJ’s exiled journalists survey: Behind the numbers
In 2007, my colleague Karen Phillips suggested we do something to mark World Refugee Day. Initially planning to publish a brief statement, I set about reviewing our data for background, checking in with older journalist cases about their current situation and looking broadly for trends to highlight. As the number of cases began counting into…
Eritrean official says jailed journalists were security threat
Since a week after September 11, 2001, when the government of Eritrea threw into secret prisons journalists from its once-vibrant private press, the only certainty it has offered about the fate of the prisoners has been ambiguity. Over the years, officials have offered various explanations for the arrests—from nebulous anti-state conspiracies involving foreign intelligence to press law violations. They have…
For Eritrean expatriate press, intimidation in exile
For the better part of the last 20 years, Tedros Menghistu has been a refugee, forced to flee his Red Sea homeland of Eritrea not once, but twice—first as a young man displaced by war in the early 1990s, and then as a professional journalist escaping political censorship and military conscription a decade later. Menghistu is also…
Exiled Eritrean editor reunites with family
Eight years ago, Aaron Berhane left his wife and three children behind as he fled his native Eritrea, a fugitive wanted by authorities because his newspaper had dared criticize the government of revered independence leader Isaias Afewerki. In May 2009, Berhane’s family managed to escape to Sudan. This month, at last, they joined him in…