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Eritrea: Human Rights
AfricaFocus Bulletin
May 27, 2004 (040527)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
Releasing its annual human rights report this week, Amnesty
International charged that the U.S.-led "war on terror" has
contributed to sacrificing human rights and turning a blind eye to
abuses, without enhancing security. Among the African governments
that has most enthusiastically embraced the anti-terror rationale
is Eritrea, the subject of a new Amnesty International report
released to coincide with the country's 13th anniversary of
independence on May 24.
The sharp escalation in repression of internal critics and
journalists by the Eritrean government highlighted in the Amnesty
report excerpted below came in September 2001, only a week after
9/11. This week, the Eritrean Ambassador to the United States,
speaking at a Washington press conference, cited his government's
strong support for the U.S. campaign against global terrorism. He
also quoted U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who visited
Asmara in December 2002 and affirmed that the U.S. could "benefit
from [Eritrea's] knowledge and experience" [in fighting terrorism].
[Text of speech available at
http://dehai.org/archives/dehai_news_archive/0533.html]
Amnesty's worldwide report, which listed some 132 countries
identified as using "torture and ill-treatment," including the U.S.
and 37 African countries, is available at
http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/index-eng
A message from Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene Khan,
introducing the report, stresses that human rights activists around
the world must continue to speak out to counter the "accountability
gap" of governments, international institutions, armed groups and
corporate actors.
Amnesty's summary overview for Africa is at
http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/2af-index-eng
and can also be found at
http://allafrica.com/stories/200405261269.html
Amnesty's full archive of documents on Africa, including annual
reports, news, actions, and other reports, is at
http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-2af/index
For additional links and background data on Eritrea, visit
http://www.africafocus.org/country/eritrea.php
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Eritrea: Government resists scrutiny on human rights and calls to
end torture and arbitrary detention
Amnesty International Press Release
http://news.amnesty.org
AI Index: AFR 64/004/2004 (Public) News Service No: 118 19 May 2004
Since the crackdown two-and-a-half years ago on peaceful dissent
and calls for democratic reform, torture, arbitrary detention,
"disappearances" and ill-treatment of political prisoners have
become entrenched in Eritrea, Amnesty International said today in
a new report, Eritrea:' You have no right to ask' - Government
resists scrutiny on human rights.
President Issayas Afewerki's one-party government has stopped all
dialogue on human rights and rejected any scrutiny of violations.
"The government's refusal of openness and accountability about its
human rights practices is contrary to human rights safeguards in
the Eritrean Constitution and laws, and the international human
rights treaties Eritrea has ratified," Amnesty International said.
On the occasion of the 11th anniversary of formal independence on
24 May, Amnesty International is calling on the Government of
Eritrea to release all prisoners of conscience, take steps to
eradicate the use of torture, bring all prisoners within a proper
system of impartial justice and humane treatment in custody, and
guarantee the rights to freedom of expression of peaceful opinion
and religious belief and the freedom of the press. Amnesty
International also calls on the international community to provide
full protection for Eritrean refugees.
Prisoners of conscience in Eritrea include former liberation
movement leaders who helped to win Eritrea's independence from
Ethiopia in 1991.The government has branded former foreign minister
Haile Woldetensae and other leading critics arrested in September
2001 as "traitors", supposedly collaborating with Ethiopia during
and after the bitter war of 1998-2000. Ten independent journalists
were detained too and the entire private press banned - they have
been maligned as "mercenaries and spies for Ethiopia", an
accusation totally unsubstantiated.
None of these prisoners has been charged with any offence or
presented to a court. They have not been seen by their families
since then and the authorities refuse to say where they are
detained or how they are treated. Thousands of other political
detainees are also virtually "disappeared".
Amnesty International was informed that a group of mothers of
detainees and the "disappeared" were even told, "You have no right
to ask [about them]". Whether criticism of government abuses is
about prominent or "unknown" political detainees, religious
persecution, punishment-torture of national service conscripts, or
detention and torture of returned asylum-seekers (those forcibly
returned, for example, by Malta in late 2003), the government
routinely dismisses concerns and criticisms backed by
well-documented evidence as "malicious smears" and
"misinformation".
In its latest report, the organization presents testimony and
sketched illustrations of various methods of torture used on
detainees in Eritrea. Prisoners have been tied with ropes for days
or weeks non-stop in contorted painful positions. These torture
methods have nick-names such as "the helicopter", "Jesus Christ" (a
position resembling crucifixion) and "number eight". Prisoners are
tortured as the standard punishment for evading or escaping
conscription or for a military offence, or while being interrogated
about suspected alleged political opposition.
Prisoners are held in atrocious conditions - damp underground
cells, overcrowded and sweltering shipping containers, secret
security sections of official police stations or prisons, military
prisons and make-shift rural prison camps. They have a poor diet,
little water for drinking or washing, and virtually no medical
treatment for torture injuries or illness.
The increasing flow of refugees from Eritrea includes many torture
victims as well as others fleeing compulsory national military
service for all men and women between 18 and 40 years (which has
been extended indefinitely), religious persecution, repression of
peaceful political dissent, as well as suspicion of support for
armed opposition groups neighboring countries.
Religious persecution of minority Christian faiths has escalated in
the past two years, particularly against Jehovah's Witnesses (who
were stripped of their basic civic rights in 1994) and evangelical
and Pentecostal churches. Three Jehovah's Witnesses have been
detained incommunicado by the army for the last ten years because
of their faith-based refusal of military service. The government
does not recognize the right to conscientious objection. Members of
other minority churches have been jailed and tortured or
ill-treated to make them abandon their faith. They are not allowed
to practice their religion during national service and bibles have
been burned. Muslims have been targeted too, some held in secret
incommunicado detention for years on suspicion of links with an
Islamist armed opposition group operating from Sudan.
Amid continuing tensions over the border with Ethiopia and fears of
a new war, Amnesty International's report warns of a possible
repeat of human rights abuses committed in the previous war by both
sides against civilians and prisoners of war.
Eritrea: "You have no right to ask: Government resists scrutiny on
human rights"
Amnesty International
AI Index: AFR 64/003/2004
19 May 2004
[Excerpts only; full 30-page report, including footnotes, available
at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR640032004]
"We were beaten and mostly were tied in the 'helicopter' position
and tortured in groups of 10 to 15. We were tied up day and night,
except for three short food and toilet breaks. I was tied up for
two weeks. One of us got very ill with bronchitis and there was no
medical treatment. Some got paralysed in the arms and legs." - An
Eritrean deported from Malta in October 2002, speaking of detention
in Adi Abeto prison.
"You can't ask about prisoners - You have no right to ask." -
Security officer responding to a group of mothers of detainees,
Asmara, mid-2003.
Introduction
... Human rights violations continue in Eritrea on a massive scale.
Thousands of government critics and political opponents - many of
them prisoners of conscience who have not used or advocated
violence - are detained in secret. Some have been held for several
years. None has been taken to court, charged or tried. In some
cases, panels of military and police officers have reportedly
handed down prison sentences in secret proceedings that flout basic
standards of fair trial. Detainees are not informed of the
accusations made against them, have no right to defend themselves
or be legally represented, and have no recourse to an independent
judiciary to challenge abuses of their fundamental rights.
Torture is systematically practiced within the army for
interrogation and punishment, particularly of conscription evaders,
deserters and soldiers accused of military offences, and members of
minority churches. Torture is also used against some political
prisoners. Furthermore, the atrocious conditions under which many
political prisoners are held amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment.
The government dismisses the criticism from all sides of its
appalling human rights record. It ignores the principle of the rule
of law and flagrantly contravenes the human rights safeguards in
Eritrea's Constitution and laws. It has ratified several
international human rights treaties - though not the whole range -
but does not adhere to them in practice. It allows no criticism in
the country - critics and human rights defenders have been detained
or have fled the country. The government refuses to engage in
dialogue about human rights, either with its own citizens or with
the international community. ...
1. Political context
Eritrea is a de facto one-party state, where the only party
permitted is the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice
(PFDJ), the re-named former marxist-leninist Eritrean People's
Liberation Front (EPLF) which won independence from Ethiopia in
1991 after a 30-year liberation war. Independence was formalized
with international recognition in 1993 following a UN-supervised
referendum. It was supported by the new Ethiopian government headed
by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a former ally of the EPLF leader
and new Eritrean President, Issayas Afewerki.
Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia gradually deteriorated and
a bitter two-year border war was fought from 1998 to 2000. After
the war, demands inside Eritrea for democratization were suppressed
with the detention of dissidents in September 2001. Former
government ministers and EPLF leaders heading this movement were
accused of links with Ethiopia. Private newspapers which started
criticising the government in 2000 after the Ethiopian war have
been suspended indefinitely since 2001. Religious persecution has
been increasing since 2003. Independent non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) are not allowed and the legitimate role of
human rights defenders is not recognized. International human
rights NGOs (including Amnesty International) are barred from the
country, few foreign journalists are allowed in (with the exception
of the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC). Travel inside the
country by diplomats, international organizations and foreign
journalists is restricted.
The President and his supporters in the PFDJ have stopped
engagement with peaceful local criticism which has been silenced by
arbitrary and unlawful detentions. The chief critics of the
President and many of the prisoners of conscience - self-styled
"democratic reformists" - have been branded by him as "traitors,
mercenaries and spies". Many are his former comrades among the
founders and leaders of the EPLF in its central committee and
secret inner circle, military commanders, ex-fighters ("veterans")
and civilian activists.
The large world-wide Eritrean diaspora, possibly as many as a
half-million on top of Eritrea's estimated 3.5 million population,
consists mainly of refugees from harsh Ethiopian repression of the
Eritrean liberation struggle. Many Eritreans abroad are now
naturalized citizens of western countries which gave them asylum,
while others remain in neighbouring countries without having found
a durable solution to their plight, some still in refugee camps and
unable to return safely to their former homes. But there is now an
increasing flow of new post-independence asylum-seekers from
Eritrea to various countries in the world. The growing Eritrean
diaspora, few of whom are returning home, has been drawn into the
current crisis of democracy and human rights. ...
Fears of renewed war
Fears in the international community grew in mid-2003 of the risk
of a new war between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the unresolved
border issue, which some observers call a "no war, no peace"
situation(2). The two-year border war with Ethiopia ended with a
cease-fire in June 2000 and a Peace Agreement in December 2000.
The international community including the United Nations (UN) is
working to prevent any further fighting. A UN peace-keeping force
(the UN Military Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea, UNMEE) controls
a buffer-zone along the border. The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary
Commission was established by the Peace Agreement, under the
auspices of the International Court of The Hague and its Permanent
Court of Arbitration, to determine and demarcate the boundary. The
commission delivered its report in April 2002, which both sides had
agreed in advance should be binding. However, in March 2003 it
became clear that the Commission had decided that the small border
town of Badme, the flashpoint starting the war, was Eritrean
territory according to colonial treaties of 1900-1908 and
applicable international law. Ethiopia refused to accept this.
Eritrea has called for the UN to enforce the ruling. There were
widespread fears of a resumption of fighting, even though both
governments said that they would not start another war.
In December 2003 the UN Security Council called for political
dialogue to help solve the issue and the UN Secretary General
appointed a Special Envoy for this purpose, but there has been no
progress to date. On 4 May 2004 the UN Security Council called on
both states to "explore ways of moving the demarcation process
forward". It expressed concern about Eritrea's restriction on UNMEE
movements and increasing detentions of UNMEE staff, as well as
about Ethiopia's continued rejection of significant parts of the
border decision.
Amnesty International is concerned that a renewal of fighting could
lead to a repeat of the massive human rights abuses against
civilians and violations of the Geneva Conventions which were
committed by both sides during the previous war. ...
2. Political imprisonment
Several hundreds or even thousands of prisoners of conscience are
imprisoned on account of their non-violent opinions, beliefs and
criticisms of the government. Some of these prisoners had expressed
their peaceful opinions openly or had published them in newspapers,
while others were punished for speaking their views in private - or
were merely suspected of holding anti-government views. Some former
government ministers and journalists have been held since September
2001. A wide range of other people have been arrested since then.
...
Nearly all the prisoners of conscience named in Amnesty
International's previous report in 2002 are still in prison,
detained arbitrarily and indefinitely without charge or trial,
their whereabouts still not known. Very few have been released.
Many more suspected political opponents have also been detained.
The names and details of only a very small proportion of the huge
number of political prisoners, allegedly running into thousands,
are known to Amnesty International. ...
The President has reportedly claimed that there are no political
prisoners in Eritrea and says that the former government ministers
and journalists detained are "traitors" or "spies". Thousands of
people are detained for political reasons but the government does
not acknowledge detaining them, or say where they are held or allow
any access to them. They are all held without reference to any law,
without being brought before a judge, without charge or trial, and
without any possibility of challenging their unlawful detention. To
their families, they have "disappeared" and their families risk
reprisals if they dare to ask the authorities about them.
The G15 prisoners
The major crackdown on dissent in September 2001 had started with
the arrests of 11 former government ministers and EPLF leaders
(members of the dissident "G15", Group of 15). They were members of
the National Assembly (parliament) and long-time close colleagues
of President Issayas Afewerki (4).
The President has since then reiterated his accusations -
prejudicial to a fair trial, if any trial was being considered -
that they were "traitors" and had sold out the country to Ethiopia
during the war. They include former Vice-President Mahmoud Ahmed
Sheriffo and his former wife Aster Fissehatsion, a former EPLF
official and National Union of Eritrean Women leader; former
Foreign Minister Haile Woldetensae, whose wife Roma Gebremichael
was also detained but has been released; former EPLF intelligence
chief Petros Solomon (whose wife Aster Yohannes was detained in
December 2003 on her return from the USA); General Ogbe Abraha,
former army chief; Beraki Gebreselassie, former government minister
and previously ambassador to Germany; and other senior officials
and former EPLF leaders.
Amnesty International considers all eleven to be prisoners of
conscience imprisoned for their non-violent opinions. None has been
taken to a court, allowed access to their family or legal counsel,
charged or tried. Their parliamentary immunity was removed
retroactively, which is contrary to international standards. Their
whereabouts are unknown. There have been fears for their safety
since several had medical conditions - Haile Woldetensae is
diabetic, General Ogbe Abraha is asthmatic and Aster Fissehatsion
has ulcers. In General Ogbe Abraha's case, there have been repeated
rumours of his death in detention, which the government has taken
no steps to disprove.
Journalists in prison
The President also accused the ten journalists detained a few days
after the G15 arrests in September 2001 of being "spies and
mercenaries" who had supposedly clandestinely supported the G15
"traitors" on behalf of Ethiopia. They include Fessahaye Yohannes
(also known as "Joshua"), an EPLF veteran, poet and dramatist, and
founder of Setit newspaper; Dawit Habtemichael, a science teacher
and co-founder of Meqaleh ("Echo") newspaper; Seyoum Tsehaye,
former director of Eritrean state television, a former
French-language teacher and photographer; Temesgen Gebreyesus, a
sports reporter and actor; and Dawit Isaak, a writer and theatre
producer, co-owner of Setit newspaper(5). Dawit Isaak is a Swedish
citizen but has been denied access to the Swedish embassy. He had
been in hospital when the others, on hunger strike at the time,
were moved to secret detention. The journalists are reported to be
held in secret security sections of the 2nd and 6th police stations
in Asmara. ...
In all, a total of 14 journalists are currently detained in Eritrea
- one of the largest number in any country of the world and
possibly the largest in relation to the country's population. In
addition, over 50 other Eritrean journalists - including virtually
all who had been working for the private press - have fled to
various countries in the world and sought asylum. International
media associations have recognized the plight of Eritrean
journalists - a challenging new profession in this small and closed
country - with awards for their human rights defence activities.(7)
Political detentions since 2001
There were many other detentions shortly after these two dramatic
round-ups in September 2001, when dissent was escalating rapidly.
Others arrested in the same conditions and not seen since include
dozens of senior civil servants, diplomats, military commanders,
health professionals, businesspeople, and more journalists. Nearly
all had a long EPLF background as senior fighters or supporters.
...
Amnesty International considers these and other detainees as
prisoners of conscience imprisoned for their non-violent opinions.
Their whereabouts in detention are not known. None of them has been
taken to a court, allowed access to legal counsel, charged or
tried. ...
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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