Eritrea has the highest number of jailed and exiled journalists in Africa. As the world marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ARTICLE 19 called for an end to the persecution of journalists, drawing attention to the government’s poor treatment of the country’s media workers.
Many journalists and political opponents continue to be detained without charge, some of them for more than seven years. Many of those detained since 2001 have been held in secret locations without access to their families or legal assistance. Some of the detainees are reported to be suffering ill health and some have died in custody, including publisher and editor of the former weekly Setit, Fesshaye “Joshua” Yohannes, in January 2007. Yohannes, a key figure in Eritrean media, was also a poet and playwright who had fought for Eritrean independence alongside President Isaias Afewerki as a member of the rebel movement.
In May 2007, after four years of legal battle – and many attempts by the Eritrean government to unduly delay and frustrate the case – ARTICLE 19 won its case on behalf of detained journalists and activists, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) ruled that the wholesale banning of the private media and arbitrary and unlawful detention of journalists, among other violations, were unlawful. The ACHPR called on the Eritrean government to end the detention and pay compensation to the victims. The lawsuit was filed in 2003, after protests and appeals to the Eritrean government.
The Eritrean Government has not respected the decision of the ACHPR and still continues its repressive policy to curb free speech.
“We call on the international community to put more pressure on Eritrea to end the human rights tragedy for the detainees and their families and to account for those who lost their lives in prison”, says Dr. Agnes Callamard, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19.
ARTICLE 19 calls on the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression in Africa to:
– follow up on the ACHPR’s decision and urge the African Union to take appropriate measures and prioritise the resolution of the political and human rights crisis in Eritrea;
– urge the Eritrean government to release journalists and politicians unlawfully detained as ordered by the ACHPR and to account for journalists who died in government custody;
– to undertake a mission in Eritrea in order to mitigate the situation and provide assistance to the victims and their families.
