GOTHENBURG, Sweden—Dawit Isaak, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist and author, has been imprisoned without trial in Eritrea for eight years this past week, despite having Swedish citizenship. He has not been allowed to see his family or any representative of the Swedish government over the entire eight years. Isaak has become an international symbol for the struggle for free press and freedom of speech and is now nominated for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize.
Isaak is a diabetic and many people in Sweden are worried for his health, especially since there has been rumor that he has been transferred to the notorious Eiaeiro prison. Isaak’s case received attention in Swedish media ever since he was first detained in 2001, and many intellectuals, politicians, and journalists are involved in the “Free Dawit” campaign. Last Saturday, various rallies were held across Sweden in support of Isaak.
At about the same time, two European MPs nominated Isaak for the Sakharov Prize, which is awarded to someone who has defended human rights and freedom of speech. Last year’s recipient was Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia.
Isaak came to Sweden from Eritrea in 1987 as a refugee from the increasingly violent civil war taking place in the country, and he became a Swedish citizen in 1992. Four years later, he returned to Eritrea to start the Setit magazine together with three other journalists. The magazine touched upon topics such as politics, culture, foreign news, and the rights and duties of the people.
In October 2000, one of the owners of Setit magazine was kidnapped by the police and locked up in an old movie theater with seven other journalists. A week later, they were released. Work continued as usual at the magazine, but after that point all material had to be approved by the government before it was published and threats against journalists increased.
A group of politicians openly discussed the lack of democracy in the country at that time, including the constitution that was adopted in 1997, but that had never been implemented. Setit magazine interviewed these politicians after they had written an open letter of demands to the government, and they also published the letter in the magazine. The politicians, originally a group of 15 people, were arrested, and as of today, nine of the eleven who were imprisoned as a result of these arrests are dead, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports.
The journalists of Setit fled, but Dawit Isaak was still in the country when plainclothes policemen knocked on his door on Sept. 23, 2001. They asked him to come with them, and according to Dagens Nyheter, Isaak said to his wife, “It is probably just an interrogation. I’ll be back soon.” That wasn’t the case.
Despite various diplomatic efforts and actually being released once, only to be immediately detained again, Dawit Isaak now spends his eighth year in Eritrean prison, his location unknown, all for the sole crime of practicing journalism. An ironic detail is that Isaak actually fought on the same side as Eritrea’s current president, Isaias Afeworki, in the civil war and was at one time quite close to the man who now keeps him imprisoned.
Isaak is a diabetic and many people in Sweden are worried for his health, especially since there has been rumor that he has been transferred to the notorious Eiaeiro prison. Isaak’s case received attention in Swedish media ever since he was first detained in 2001, and many intellectuals, politicians, and journalists are involved in the “Free Dawit” campaign. Last Saturday, various rallies were held across Sweden in support of Isaak.
At about the same time, two European MPs nominated Isaak for the Sakharov Prize, which is awarded to someone who has defended human rights and freedom of speech. Last year’s recipient was Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia.
Isaak came to Sweden from Eritrea in 1987 as a refugee from the increasingly violent civil war taking place in the country, and he became a Swedish citizen in 1992. Four years later, he returned to Eritrea to start the Setit magazine together with three other journalists. The magazine touched upon topics such as politics, culture, foreign news, and the rights and duties of the people.
In October 2000, one of the owners of Setit magazine was kidnapped by the police and locked up in an old movie theater with seven other journalists. A week later, they were released. Work continued as usual at the magazine, but after that point all material had to be approved by the government before it was published and threats against journalists increased.
A group of politicians openly discussed the lack of democracy in the country at that time, including the constitution that was adopted in 1997, but that had never been implemented. Setit magazine interviewed these politicians after they had written an open letter of demands to the government, and they also published the letter in the magazine. The politicians, originally a group of 15 people, were arrested, and as of today, nine of the eleven who were imprisoned as a result of these arrests are dead, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports.
The journalists of Setit fled, but Dawit Isaak was still in the country when plainclothes policemen knocked on his door on Sept. 23, 2001. They asked him to come with them, and according to Dagens Nyheter, Isaak said to his wife, “It is probably just an interrogation. I’ll be back soon.” That wasn’t the case.
Despite various diplomatic efforts and actually being released once, only to be immediately detained again, Dawit Isaak now spends his eighth year in Eritrean prison, his location unknown, all for the sole crime of practicing journalism. An ironic detail is that Isaak actually fought on the same side as Eritrea’s current president, Isaias Afeworki, in the civil war and was at one time quite close to the man who now keeps him imprisoned.
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