EMDHR 18 SEPTEMBER STATEMENT

Today marks the 13th year since 11 of the members of the G-15, high ranking officials and prominent leaders of the EPLF were arbitrarily arrested after they called for the implementation of the 1997 ratified constitution. Their arrests were preceded and followed by the arrests of many innocent Eritreans including most of the editors and journalist of the fledgling private newspapers which also were closed. All of them have never been officially accused of any crime and have never been brought before any court of law. They have been denied any family visitation and they have never had any legal representation whatsoever. They are detained in remote area called Ela-Ero and other secrete prisons and usually put in solitary confinement. They are believed to be held in very degrading conditions including psychological and physical torture. They are denied medical treatment and most them had chronic medical conditions such as asthma, and diabetes.

The EMDHR calls up the international community to urgently intervene to save the lives of all prisoners of conscience in Eritrea. All those countries that are dealing with the brutal totalitarian regime must shoulder their moral obligation to challenge the regime about the whereabouts of all the prisoners and the conditions under which they are held. We call upon the ICRC to continue to make efforts to negotiate access to Eritrea and provide critical medical assistance.

At the same time the EMDHR calls upon all Eritreans to condemn the regime for the denial of justice and freedom to all the prisoners of conscience which include the 11 high ranking officials, journalist, religious leaders, and thousands of innocent Eritreans. Let’s tell the stories of the prisoners through campaigns, petitions, and posting their photos on social media. Let’s make sure that we keep them and their ideals alive everyday. Above all, it is time for all of us Eritreans to take a stand and demand for democracy, freedom, justice, liberty, equality, and dignity for our people. Let’s challenge the evil dictatorship with our collective national voice, defeat it and establish a democratic nation in which its citizens are respected and live with dignity and in prosperity. Let’s together stop the misery of our people and the extinction of our generation which is perishing in remote deserts and seas. Our individual action matters and together we can bring the change we seek and the change generations of Eritreans aspired to see in their own homeland.

What is your stand?

RELEASE ALL ERITREAN PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE!

JUSTICE SHALL PREVAIL!

THE ERITREAN MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY ADN HUAN RIGHTS (EMDHR)

18 September 2014

Pretoria