Eritrea: ‘10,000 political prisoners in awful conditions’ – BBC
Thousands of political prisoners are being held by Eritrea in "unimaginably atrocious conditions", says Amnesty International, and not one has ever been charged with any crime. The rights group says at least 10,000 people have been
Thousands of political prisoners are being held by Eritrea in “unimaginably atrocious conditions”, says Amnesty International, and not one has ever been charged with any crime.
The rights group says at least 10,000 people have been jailed for political reasons since President Isaias Afewerki came to power 20 years ago.
It says torture is widespread in a network of detention centres.
Eritrea’s ambassador to London Tesfamicael Gerahtu denied the charges.
He told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that the number of 10,000 people imprisoned was a “mythical” figure and that people were free to express their view in the country.
The Eritrean ambassador also confirmed that Eritrea’s long-time Information Minister Ali Abdu had fled the country “about six months ago” but did not say why.
Some of those imprisoned are journalists or critics of the government, the Amnesty report says. Others have practised an unregistered religion, or tried to flee the country or avoid conscription into the army.
In most cases, prisoners’ families are not informed of their whereabouts, and often never hear from their relative again.
“The government has systematically used arbitrary arrest and detention without charge to crush all opposition, to silence all dissent, and to punish anyone who refuses to comply with the repressive restrictions it places on people’s lives,” said Claire Beston, Amnesty’s Eritrea researcher.
Eritrea in focus
- Once an Italian colony, Eritrea gained independence from neighbouring Ethiopia in 1993 after a 32-year armed struggle
- Relations with Ethiopia, a key US ally, deteriorated and the neighbours fought a border war between 1998 and 2000 in which some 100,000 people were killed
- The UN imposed sanctions on Eritrea in 2009 after accusations that President Isaias Afewerki’s government was backing anti-Ethiopian Islamist insurgents in Somalia
- Eritrea is the only African country to have no privately owned news media
- The UN estimates that 3,000 Eritreans left the country each month last year – often fleeing poverty and national service for men until the age of 40
- Eritrea is said to be on the brink of a mining boom, but economic progress is hampered by the proportion of those in the army rather than the workforce
“Twenty years on from the euphoric celebrations of independence, Eritrea is one of the most repressive, secretive and inaccessible countries in the world.”
Helicopter position
The facilities used as detention centres include underground cells or shipping containers, Amnesty says.
The group says some prisoners are left for days in what is known as the helicopter position – lying face down with their hands and feet bound together.
It says it has received many reports of deaths in detention resulting from torture, the bad conditions or suicide.
A former detainee held in a detention centre in Barentu told Amnesty:
“The room was about 2.5m by 3m [8 by 10 feet] and we were 33 people. It is very, very hot. The door is closed, the ceiling is low, about 2m. The temperature was about 50C.
“A boy, about 17 years old, was about to die. We were not permitted to speak, but we banged the door. They [the guards] told us they would kill all of us if we did not stop shouting. We couldn’t do anything to help him.”
Amnesty is calling for all prisoners to be either immediately charged with a recognisable crime or released.
Teckle May 10, 2013
May 24th is for Eritrea, let’s celebrate what our brothers and sisters died for as for Shaebia they are today’s number one eritrean enemy
Tes May 10, 2013
Very sad news after so many sacrifice had been made to get this in return. We are still getting bad news after bad news and our leaders live in denial of the actual thing in the ground. they are people who proudly preparing to celebrate day of independence without feeling ashamed of the dare situation in the country.
What is independence without rule of law? Lets join hands and push out this crook junta from our country. Lets stop blaming Aminsty,BBC,USA, Ethiopia, AU etc. We have to have confidence and stand up and speak for our right. Lets stand up to regain our pride and dignity. Lets build our trust in each other to build Eritrea which does not shy to carry out its obligation among other nations> Let get rid off today Eritrea who is friend of Al Shaba and Iran. We are better than this. We don’t deserve to be a laughing stock of the world.
tekeste May 10, 2013
Aa Yassin must be insane and doesn’t deserve response. Better to ignore his comments.
Tes May 10, 2013
I agree AA Yassin is insane or paid agent of HGDEF!
Corrlinks May 10, 2013
It’s really an awesome along with practical bit of information and facts. I’m happy which you embraced this handy details here. Please continue being us all educated such as this. Appreciate sharing.
sidiabdu@gmail.com May 10, 2013
“Eritrea’s ambassador to London Tesfamicael Gerahtu denied the charges.
He told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that the number of 10,000 people imprisoned was a “mythical” figure and that people were free to express their view in the country.”
Really Mr Ambasador! if you deserve to be called Ambassador. By the way, Ambassador of who? Not the Eritrean people for sure, May be of your 10,000 imprisoning and denying boss.
Semhar May 10, 2013
As long as Isayas and HIGDEF are in Eritrea misery and death will continue.
The only solution is to get rid of crazy mad dog ድያብሎስ!Isayas wedi Medhin Berad, his son, and his blind followers HIGDEF just like the Libyans did to Gadafi, his sons and his followers. Eritreans should unite and get rid the tyrant mad dog Isayas, his son and his blind followers the HIGDEF.
Semhar May 10, 2013
The mad dog ድያብሎስ! Isayas is a dropout from Haile Selassie University. He only lasted one semester.
The mad dog Isayas is 100% Ethiopian. His father is from Tembien, Tigray, Ethiopia and his mother from Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia.
He was sent by Asrate Kasa the former Governor of Eritrea and by his uncle Degezmach Solomon Abreha, former governor of Wollo province of Ethiopia to dissolve the Eritrean Liberation Front.
He dissolved E.L.F in 1980.
He dissolved E.P.L.F in 1993 and replaced them by his own blind organization HIGDEF.
He took down The Eritrean Liberation flag in 1993 and replaced it by his own burned flag.
He dissolved the historical Eritrean provinces in 1993 and replaced them by his own Zobas.
He dissolved the historical law of the land “HIGHI INDABA” “Eritrean constitution” and replaced it by his own MAFIA Law.
2013, the mad dog ድያብሎስ!Isayas has a new mission,
1) To sacrifice Eritreans in the war against Ethiopia by siding with Egypt.
2) To surrender the port of ASSAB to Ethiopia.
Unlike the mad dog Isayas the Eritrean People will always be on the side of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania’s signed agreement in Entebbe, Uganda, to overturn a colonial-era treaty seeking a more reasonable and equitable utilization of the river.
As long as Isayas and HIGDEF are in Eritrea misery and death will continue.
The only solution is to get rid of crazy mad dog ድያብሎስ!Isayas wedi Medhin Berad, his son, and his blind followers HIGDEF just like the Libyans did to Gadafi, his sons and his followers. Eritreans should unite and get rid the tyrant mad dog Isayas, his son and his blind followers the HIGDEF.
josef May 10, 2013
Wedi beradn rashaidan nhzbi ertra ketfuu mihilom yom.
sidiabdu@gmail.com May 10, 2013
AA Yassin may be an alias name or a pen name
ማሊሻ May 10, 2013
Eritrea has many prisoners at home as it has thousands of Eritreans enslaved by the Arabs in Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Egypt.
at the end of the day, any history that starts by burning its own past history and by murdering its own people as Shifta Awate did to the ethnic Kunama of Eritrea and by killing any of its dissenting elements as they did in sryet addis, Falul, Menkae, yemin … and by burning Eritrean own languages to spread foreign language like Arabic is worthless history with very shallow base to have any deep roots to with stand any stormy waves.
This is the reason everything is crumbling in front of our eyes, from the slavery in eritrea and in the Arab world as in Libya and Egypt.
No one should expect these people to come out and say “we are sorry and we made a mess of Eritrea.”
ማሊሻ May 10, 2013
The most despicable and dangerous people are the people who hate themselves so much that they are willing to burn not only other people’s languages but also their own.
History repeated itself again 28 years later after the second organizational conference of the ELF/Jebha in 1975. Educational books, which were prepared in the Tigré language by teachers at the Sawa training center, were ordered to be burned by the Executive Committee, citing the reason that it was a conspiracy directed against the status and prominence of the Arabic language in Eritrea. The leadership of the ELF gave orders not to prepare any more educational texts in the Tigré language henceforth.
“ኣብ ፕሮግራም ናይቲ ቀዳማይ ጉባኤ፣ ኣብ ሕቶ ቋንቋታት፣ ትግርኛን ዓረብን ወግዓውያን ቋንቋታት ኮይነን፣ ናይ ኩለን ቋንቋታት ኤርትራ መስልን ማዕርነትን ክሕሎ ዝብል ነጥቢ ነይሩ እዩ። እዚ ነጥቢ’ዚ ድሓር በቶም ዓቃባውያን ወገናት፣ ከም ኣንጻር ዓረብ ዝቐንዐ ውዲት እዩ ተራእዩ። “እዚአን ቋንቋታት ኣይኮናን ዲያለክትስ እየን” ዝብል ምጉት ኣምጺኦም። ከም ውጽኢት ናይዚ ኣመለኻኽታ’ዚ፣ ኩሉ ተጋዳላይ ጀብሃ ከምዝዝከሮ፣ ድሕሪ 2ይ ውድባዊ ጉባኤ፣ ኣብ 1975 ኣብቲ ውድብ ዝነበረ ንመምሃሪ ተባሂሉ ዝተዳለወ ናይ ትግረ መጻሕፍቲ ተቓጺሉ እዩ። ኣብ መዓስከር ሳዋ ዝነበሩ መማህራን፣ ካልኣይ ቋንቋ ናይ ኤርትራ ትግረ’ዩ ብዝብል ገርሃዊ ኣተሓሳስባ እዮም ብትግረ መምሃሪ መጻሕፍቲ ኣዳልዮም። እዚ ምስተሰምዐ፣ ኣብ ኣኼባ ፈጻሚት ሽማግለ ጀብሃ “ናይ ትግረ መጻሕፍቲ ክጸሓፍ የብሉን” ዝብል ውሳነ ሓሊፉ ከምዝቃጸል ተገይሩ። እቲ ውሳነ ኣብ ገለ መራሕቲ ጀብሃ ዝነበረ ናይ መንነት ቅልውላው ዘንጸባርቕ እዩ ነይሩ።” (http://www.ehrea.org/dont_forget_history_01.pdf)