Swedish journalist behind bars in Eritrea for 1313 days

Journalist David Isaac has been improsoned for 1313 days in Eritrea. Today is his 40th birthday.

The Swedish Journalists Federation are campaigning vigorously for the release of Dawit Isaac, a journalist and Swedish citizen, who along with 12 other independent journalists have been detained incommunicado, without charge or trial, since September 2001 when the government shut down independent newspapers. No charges are known to have been filed against any of them.

David Isaac, detained without trial for 1313 days in Eritrea.

“Eritrea has the worst record in Africa when it comes to attacks on press freedom and journalists rights,” said Arne Konig, Vice President of the Swedish Journalists’ Federation. “Today is the 40th birthday of our colleague Isaac who has been in jail for three years without trial already. We need to mark his anniversary with new efforts to set him free.”

Since its independence from Ethiopia in 1991, Eritrean President Afwerki has purposively shelved the country’s constitution, delayed presidential elections, closed down independent media and jailed hundreds of journalists and other members of civil society.

“Eritrea is the victim of a systematic repression and censorship of all independent media,” said White. “There is no privately-owned press, the foreign press have been kicked out, and local journalists are harassed, detained without trial and subject to intolerable intimidation. This shameful situation cannot be ignored any longer.”

Link

Most important newspapers in Eritrea

6 Comments »

1. Nice that you cover the case of Dawit Isaak. However, König’s statement is from October 27 2004, Dawit’s 40th birthday. Dawit though is still imprisoned in Karsheli-prison in Asmara, Eritrea. On May 3, Dawit’s case will be highlighted as press organisations celebrate World Press Freedom Day in several cities in Sweden. You are welcome to sign the petition at Freedawit.com (I’m covering the case in my blog Mothugg.se, but unfortunately it is all in Swedish).

   Comment by Johan Karlsson — May 2, 2005 @ 11:34 am

2. Thanks for correcting me! You are right. I saw the story on the frontpage of ifj.org and pressumed it was breaking news.

   Dont worry about the swedish, I am sure that a lot of the enlightened readers of this blog understand scandinavian perfectly :-

   Comment by Hans Henrik Lichtenberg — May 2, 2005 @ 2:31 pm

3. Though I understand your concern, recall that Dawit is also an Eritrean citizen and especially while in his country must obey its laws.

   Sweden has no extradition treaty of its own and if it did, would likely have to face the fact that many terrorists who have been called to trial in Eritrea live there.

   Many complain the rule of law is not followed, it seems when it is there are calls for it to stop.

   Comment by Merhawie Woldezion — June 9, 2005 @ 9:17 pm

4. Thanks for your comment. Of course Dawit is bound by the law in the country where he resides. We agree on this point.

   The point is that the laws in Eritrea are handled in a very bad way. Coruption and political arrests happens often and human rights and free speech are suppressed. This is, in my point of view, the primary reason why Eritrea and many other countries are so deep down in poverty.

   Comment by Hans Henrik Lichtenberg — June 9, 2005 @ 9:50 pm

5. Firstly I apologize for the delay in my counter response Mr. Hans Henrik Lichtenberg.

   Secondly, the basis of your first claim, ‘corruption’ is surprising to me. Eritrea is consistently praised by almost all quarters as being almost free of corruption. In fact, in Eritrea we have a special court to deal with corruption.

   Thirdly, it is incorrect to say that there are political arrests. The assumption that there are politically motivated arrests stems from the fact that almost every branch of the Eritrean government does a very poor job at information distribution. If one can get interviews with very busy members of the Eritrean government, it becomes abundantly clear what the ‘political detainees’ are being held for, justly I must say.

   Fourthly, I do agree with you that we have some problems with human rights. Though the offenses the government commits in this arena are, in my certainly less than expert opinion, caused by a lack of funds and not a policy to commit the transgressions.

   Fifthly, and I will be brief, I must also disagree with your assertion that freedom of speech is supressed. I in fact have first hand knowledge of this. You can reference my interview on Eri-TV on Tuesday 12 July 2005. There was not any editing of the content of the interview and no pre-coaching.

   In conclusion I am of the opinion that poverty in impovershed countries is caused more by American and European trade polices as well as Chinese export policy. More specifically in Eritrea it has been caused the effects of British post-colonial administration as well as the internationally condoned illegal occupation by Ethiopia.

   Thank you for your time and I apologize for the length.

   Comment by Merhawie Woldezion — July 19, 2005 @ 10:51 pm

6. […] Eritrean authorities have released a journalist whom they held for four years while 12 others still remain in custody, the Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF) said in a statement on Saturday. Dawit Isaac, 41, an Eritrean who also took Swedish citizenship in the 1980s and the proprietor of the former weekly Setit, was one of ten newspaper owners, editors and journalists accused without evidence of being Ethiopian ‘traitors’ and ’spies’ by the government, the statement said. Earlier this year, RSF accused Eritrea of violations of press freedom, ranking it 166th out of 167 countries in its annual report. (AFP, The Local,November 22, 2005) […]

   Pingback by Newspaperindex - the blog | Newspapers of the world, media, free speech and update on the newspaper catalogue Newspaper Index » Eritrea releases Swedish journalist after four years — November 22, 2005 @ 10:47 am

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