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Rights experts fear Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, detained in a September 2001 purge, is no longer alive.
United Nations rights experts have demanded that Asmara immediately release a Swedish-Eritrean journalist held without charge and largely incommunicado for two decades, expressing fears that he is no longer alive.
Dawit Isaak was among a group of around two dozen senior officials, MPs and independent journalists who were arrested in what was described as a draconian purge in September 2001.
The government of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has said those arrested pose a threat to national security.
“To this day, Dawit Isaak has never been charged with a crime, never spent a day in court or spoken to his lawyer,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights on Wednesday. human rights defenders.
“The level at which the Eritrean government ignores Mr. Isaak’s basic human rights is appalling. He must be released immediately.
Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says he and his colleagues detained at the same time are now the oldest journalists in the world.
“We fear for his life”
Lawlor pointed out that during the first years of Isaak’s detention, information was provided that he was often taken to hospital.
“Now we don’t get any more news, and it’s worse. We fear for his life, ”she said.
“At a minimum, Eritrea must immediately present proof that it is alive and well. “
The leading UN expert on the situation of rights in Eritrea, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, also said in the joint statement that “the enforced disappearance of Mr. Isaak for nearly two decades is extremely worrying”.
Asmara, he said, “has not confirmed his whereabouts or provided strong evidence on his condition for all these years. He denied the allegations of torture but did not allow anyone to visit Mr. Isaak ”.
The experts, who are appointed by the UN but do not speak on its behalf, said a credible source said Isaak was still alive as of September 2020, marking the first sign of life in seven years.
The 56-year-old binational is believed to be held in the infamous Eiraeiro prison, where torture is reportedly common, according to the statement endorsed by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and UN law experts health and extrajudicial killings.
Isaak fled to Sweden in 1987 during Eritrea’s struggle against Ethiopia, which ultimately led to independence in 1993. He returned in 2001 to help shape the media landscape.
But he was arrested on September 23 of the same year, shortly after the Eritrean newspaper he founded, Setit, published articles demanding political reform.
Lawlor, who documents cases of rights defenders detained in long-term detention around the world, said she had “rarely witnessed such disregard for human life.”
“Locking up human rights defenders for long periods of time may seem like a guarantee against internal control,” she said. “But we haven’t forgotten.”
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