H.E. Isaias Aswerki
President
Office of the President
P.O. Box 251
Asmara
State of Eritrea
Mr. President:
We of the Overseas Press Club of America are obliged to protest to you directly concerning the appalling deterioration of free flow of information in your country since 2001 and the terrible penalties courageous journalists in your country have paid.
It was on or about September 18 of 2001 that fourteen native Eritrean journalists were imprisoned simultaneously after the government suppressed all independent media. According to reports, they are now being held incommunicado somewhere outside of Asmara. Reports of torture and even death of our colleagues appear in world-wide publications and on the Internet. They were publicly accused of treason, violating your own press law, but have never been charged. There is a rumour that one has died under unexplained circumstances. And since that savage crack-down, Eritrea has come to be known as “journalists’ largest prison in Africa.” According to Reporters Without Borders, at least sixteen are now imprisoned in your country, while thirty journalists have fled and are now living in exile.
The Overseas Press Club of America, an organization of foreign correspondents which was established almost seventy years ago, has fought for freedom of expression in the media world-wide, and our voice of reason is heard. We cite our most recent concerns below.
1. There is only one newspaper in your country of over four million people. That is the government-owned Hadas Eritrea.
2. All media are government-owned, and journalists who work for them consider self-censorship their only means of survival.
3. Johnny Hisabu, who worked at the Information Ministry-run team of TV editors for Eri-TV, considered himself a cog in the propaganda machine of your country and tried to flee Eritrea in late May. He was reportedly arrested and is being held in a detention center in Barentu.
4. Around the same time, Eyob Kessete, a journalist with the public radio, Dimtsi Hafash, was arrested by border guards while attempting to cross into Ethiopia. He is said to be a prisoner now in May Wsra, near Asmara.
5. Paulos Kidane, another journalist with radio, Dimtsi Hafash, died in early June under unclear circumstances as he attempted to flee on foot across the Sudan border.
6. Fetiha Khaled, of the Eri-TV Arabic language service, was arrested early in 2007 and transferred to a military camp near the Sudanese border. It is believed she has been forcibly recruited into the army, as her salary is being paid now by the Defense Ministry.
7. The case of Dawit Isaak demands particular attention, as the Swedish government protests that he is a Swedish citizen and urges his release. Mr. Isaak, a reporter for and part owner of the independent newspaper, Setit, has been a prisoner since 2001 — and your government maintains that he has dual citizenship and is subject to Eritrean justice only. Reports that he has been tortured have been denied.
Your Excellency, we limit our list of protests, as you have heard them before, but we do not limit our commitment to freedom of information in your country, and we ask urgently for the immediate release of all the journalists you are holding without formal charges.
It should be as shameful and sad for your government — as it is for your citizens — that this year, Reporters without Borders’ Index on Media Freedom ranks Eritrea disastrously low, at 132 out of 139 countries. We ask you, Mr. President, to restore freedon of speech to the media and the public and renew the pact Eritrea made with democracy in 1991.
We will appreciate the courtesy of your reply.
Respectfully yours,
Jacqueline Albert-Simon
Larry Martz
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Osman Saleh Mohammed
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
P.O.Box 19
Asmara
State of Eritrea
Fozia Hashim
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
P.O. Box 24
Asmara
State ofEritrea
Ali Abdu
Minister of Information and Culture
Ministry of Information and Culture
P.O. Box 24
Asmara
State of Eritrea
Fax: (011.291.1) 12.19.13
H.E.Ghirmai Ghebremariam
Ambassador of Eritrea to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the State of Eritrea
1708 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington. DC 10009
Fax: (202) 319.1304
Ambassador Araya Desta
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the State of Eritrea to the United Nations
800 Second Avenue, 18th floor
New York, NY 10017
Editor-in-Chief
Hadas Eritrea
Asmara
Eritrea