Contact: eritrea @ aivol.org
LAUNCH OF www.FreeEritreanJournalists.org WEBSITE
On the 6th anniversary of the mass detentions of dissidents in Eritrea,
Amnesty International USA Group 19 (Palo Alto, CA) is launching its
website to free imprisoned Eritrean journalists.
The Red Sea state of Eritrea, with a population of 3.9 million, attained
formal and internationally-recognized independence from Ethiopia in May
1993 after a UN-supervised referendum. In 2001, there was a major
crackdown on dissent in Eritrea, with the detention of scores of
government critics and journalists. The journalists have been held
incommunicado without charge or trial since late September 2001, when
the private newspapers they work for were shut down by the government on
18 September 2002. Amnesty International considers them prisoners of
conscience, imprisoned solely because of their legitimate work as
journalists, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.
For its long-term prisoner work, Group 19 has been assigned the case of
Mattewos Habteab, the editor of Meqaleh ("Echo") until June 2000, when
he was called up for military service, possibly because of his work as a
journalist. A year later he returned to his job in Asmara, but was
arrested and taken to the 'Track B' military prison in Asmara where he
was secretly held for approximately six weeks. A few weeks after his
release he was arrested again in late September as part of the
Government's clamp-down on the independent press. He has been held
incommunicado at an undisclosed location ever since.
Group 19 created this website www.FreeEritreanJournalists.org as a part
of its campaign to free Mattewos Habteab and his fellow journalists. The
website contains information about individual journalists and the
background of their imprisonment. Each month we will post new action
requests on the site. Please publicize the website widely. We recognize
that, to be successful, we need the concerted effort of all concerned
individuals and organizations. We welcome collaborations, suggestions,
and links to the site. For more information and for joining this
campaign, please contact eritrea @ aivol.org