[prisoner-rights] Eritrea: Government critics and journalists held in incommunicado detention

* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *

18 September 2002
AFR 64/010/2002


Amnesty International today called on the Eritrean authorities to
immediately and unconditionally end the unlawful detention of
dozens of prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders, as
it released a new report Eritrea: Arbitrary detentions of
government critics and journalists.

       "These arbitrary detentions place Eritrea in
contravention of international and regional human rights treaties
which the government has only recently ratified. They also foster
a climate of impunity on the part of authorities," Amnesty
International said.

       Critics of the government and journalists from the
private press have been held in secret incommunicado detention
for one year now, since the authorities started a sudden
clampdown on growing public dissent in September 2001.

       In May 2001 a dissident group of 15 senior ruling party
members (the "Group of 15") publicly criticised President Issayas
Afewerki  and called for "the rule of law and for justice,
through peaceful and legal ways and means."

       Their letter to party members followed the publication in
October 2000 of the "Berlin Manifesto" in which Eritrean
academics and professionals abroad claimed the government had
"lagged behind in the development of democratic institutions,
including mechanisms for ensuring accountability and
transparency." They cited the "absence of freedom of expression
which has prevented the citizens from exercising their rightful
duties of restraining the undue accumulation of power in the
presidency."

       In response to the growing criticism and opposition to
the President and his ruling People's Front for Democracy and
Justice (PFDJ) party, security forces detained 11 members of the
"Group of 15" in Asmara 18 September 2001. Three members who were
out of the country at the time escaped arrest and one withdrew
his support for the group.

       The government claimed the 11 "had committed crimes
against the sovereignty, security and peace of the nation." They
include former Vice president Mahmoud Ahmed Sheriffo, former
Foreign Minister Haile Woldetensae,  Aster Fissehatsion a
prominent EPLF leader and others prominent in obtaining
independence in 1991 after a 30-year liberation struggle against
Ethiopian rule.

       Amnesty International has carefully examined the
government's allegations  that members of the "Group of 15"
committed treason during the 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia, and
concluded that the detainees are prisoners of conscience arrested
solely for their peaceful criticism of the government.

       On 18 September 2001, the same day they were arrested,
the government shut down all privately-owned newspapers  and
announced that a parliamentary committee would examine conditions
under which they would be permitted to re-open. The newspapers
were accused of contravening the 1996 Press Law, but their
alleged offences were not specified.

       In the days following the clampdown, 10 leading
journalists were arrested by the police in Asmara. They had
protested in writing to the Minister of Information at the arrest
of members of the Group of 15 and at the closure of the
newspapers. When they went on hunger strike in March they were
taken away from the 1st police station and have not been seen
since.

       Amnesty International considers these detained
journalists as prisoners of conscience, imprisoned because of
their legitimate professional work as journalists. "As human
rights defenders, they placed themselves at risk of government
reprisal by publishing articles about human rights and democracy
and by asserting the right to freedom of expression and
publication," the organization said.

       Amnesty International is concerned that the detained
journalists and members of the Group of 15 could be held
indefinitely without charge or trial, or unfairly tried. "Being
held incommunicado, with no contact with their families or
lawyers, and in secret, places them at risk of ill-treatment,
including denial of medical care," the organization stressed.

       In the months following the arrests and through 2002,
Amnesty International has received reports of dozens of other
detentions, believed to be still continuing, including civil
servants, businesspeople, journalists, former liberation
fighters, and elders who had sought to mediate between the
government and its critics. Hundreds have fled the country,
including youths refusing military conscription round-ups.

       One detainee, student leader Semere Kesete, recently
escaped and told of being held secretly in solitary confinement
in a small dark cell  in the 6th police station in Asmara. He
said other political detainees held there included one former
liberation movement leader held since 1992.

       None of those detained has been taken to court or charged
with any recognised offence. They have been denied all access to
the outside world. The government has not provided the families
of the detainees with formal notification of the detentions or
the detainees' whereabouts or conditions.

       "We have made several urgent appeals to Eritrean
authorities about these prisoners, without receiving any
satisfactory response. The government has refused to allow an
Amnesty International delegation to visit Eritrea and discuss its
concerns directly with the authorities," the organization said.

       Amnesty International is calling on the Government of
Eritrea to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners
of conscience. The release should include other political
prisoners if they are not to be promptly charged, and fairly
tried in accordance with international standards for fair trial.

       Furthermore, Eritrean authorities should:

publicly commit themselves to recognize and uphold the rights to
freedom of expression, opinion and belief, including the rights
of political association and of freedom of the press;

end the practice of secret incommunicado detention, which in some
cases may amount  to "disappearance"; and

ensure that international standards of fair trial are
incorporated into national laws and implemented throughout the
process of the administration of justice and the judicial system.


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