HRW demands "immediate release" of detained journalists and dissidents

The New York-based rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has called on the Eritrean government to free immediately nine journalists detained in September 2001 following the government's imposition of a ban on all private and independent publications in the country, HRW said in a press statement on Thursday.

The independent media were closed down after being accused of engaging in activities that "endangered national security and unity". They were accused of carrying the opinions of government dissidents, 11 of whom are also in detention.

The nine, who were reporters, editors and publishers of Eritrea's private press, began a hunger strike in late March to protest against their detention without charge and, on 3 April, "were transferred from Police Station One in [the capital] Asmara to an undisclosed location", said the HRW statement.

HRW noted that international human rights law recognised the fundamental principles that detainees were entitled to be free of torture and mistreatment, and that no-one should be subjected to prolonged arbitrary detention by the government.

"The Eritrean government should immediately release the journalists and political dissidents or charge them with a recognisable criminal offense. They should be held in an acknowledged, legally established place of detention pending release, with access to relatives and lawyers. The government should also lift the ban on the independent press," said the statement.

An Eritrean National Assembly session held in January addressed the issue of the private press and set up a commission to establish a "responsible" independent press. The Eritrean government has stressed that the ban on the private press is a "temporary suspension" and that its commitment to the growth of a free press is on track.

Eritrea’s deputy ambassador to Kenya, Teweldemedhin Tesfamariam, told IRIN that Eritrea's commitment "to a free press is still there". "We are taking appropriate measures to lift the suspension," he added. The detainees had been placed in custody, "because they transgressed against the law of the land". Their case was not a political matter, but "a legal issue, and their fate will be decided in the law courts", Teweldemedhin said.