The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network meets Eritrea's Ambassador to Kenya
The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net) established in November 2005, to support and act in solidarity with human right defender organizations from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Somaliland, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, presented the Eritrean Ambassador to Kenya on 30 October 2006 with a petition on behalf of 16 journalists detained in Eritrea since 2001. Read the petition letter below.
30th October 2006
To: Eritrean President, His Excellency Isaias Afewerke Office of the President P.O. Box 257 Asmara Eritrea
Thru: The Eritrean Ambassador to Kenya
Your Excellency,
RE: ERITREAN JOURNALISTS UNDER CONTINUED DETENTION -EHAHRD-Net CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Human rights defenders from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Somaliland, Sudan including Southern Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, comprising the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net) and working to protect the rights of over 220 million people within the sub-region, are very concerned about the continued detention of journalists in your country for now over five years.
Your Excellency, as you may already be aware, the journalists in question include: Zemenfes Haile Tsigenay, arrested in January 1999; Ghebrehiwet Keleta Tsigenay (July 2000); Selamyinghes Beyene Meqaleh (2001); Amanuel Asrat Zemen (18 September 2001); Medhanie Haile Keste Debena (18 September, 2001); Yusuf Mohamed Ali Tsigenay (18 September, 2001); Mattewos Habteab Meqaleh (18 September, 2001); Ezra Fessehaye, a journalist who was working with the state media and has been in detention since July 2002; and Temesken Ghebreyesus Keste Debena (18 September, 2001).
Others include: Said Abdelkader Admas (18 September, 2001); Seyoum Tsehaye, freelance (18 September, 2001); Dawit Habtemichael Meqaleh (18 September, 2001); Fesshaye "Joshua" Yohannes Setit (18 September, 2001); Hamid Mohammed Said, who worked for the Eritrean State Television (15 February, 2002); Saleh Aljezeeri, who worked for the Eritrean State Radio (15 February, 2002); Ezra Fessehaye a journalist who was working with the state media and has been in detention since July 2002 and Dawit Isaac, a journalist with Swedish and Eritrean dual nationality and founder of the now-banned weekly, Setit.
Your Excellency, the Network appreciates that the media, as an essential component of any democratic government and as a watchdog of society, ensures checks and balances in any government. Therefore, the crackdown on press freedom exhibited by your government five years ago denies the Eritrean community their right to information and is tantamount to a blatant breach of your government’s regional and international obligations.
Your Excellency, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights assented to by all world states, and in harmony with your very own Constitutional provisions, states clearly that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. We call upon your government to respect all the press freedom laws.
Your Excellency, Article 11 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prescribes that “Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.” In accordance with this principle, we feel that it is unfair for the journalists named above to still be held in prison in as much as they have not been charged or been proved guilty of any recognizable criminal offence.
SUBMISSION:
· Your Excellency, aware that international law principles worldwide hold the view that the lawfulness and necessity of holding someone in custody must be determined by a court or any other appropriate judicial authority in view of mitigating factors, the decision to keep these journalists in detention for that long, even before conviction, is totally uncalled for. We appeal to your government to re-open media channels as a way of facilitating the checks and balances necessary for democratic governance.
· The excuse of arresting people under the pretext of national security as is alleged, is one of the tools employed by many governments to deny people their rights, and your country cannot afford to be seen in that vein. It is clear that these journalists have not been properly charged. Yet, for half a decade now they have languished in your government’s secret detention centres. The detained journalists should be allowed access to their relatives and lawyers as a way of fostering transparency in their case.
· We respectfully appeal to your government to let justice prevail in these journalists’ plight by effecting a quick and fair trial of their case, and to investigate allegations that these journalists are kept in unknown detention centres, without access to relatives or legal advice and where they may be tortured.
Yours Sincerely,
Hassan Shire Sheikh
Chairperson, EHAHRDP/Net