Rights group urges release of detainees

The human rights group, Amnesty International, has criticised the continued detention of hundreds of people in Eritrea, including 11 prominent politicians and a number of independent journalists who have been held since September 2001. In a statement to mark Eritrea's 12th independence anniversary - and the 10th year of formal independence - on 24 May, the organisation urged President Isayas Afewerki to release all political prisoners or bring them to trial. The statement also criticised the arrests of members of minority Christian sects, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses who oppose military service. "A further 300 or more prisoners of conscience arrested since September 2001 include Eritrean diplomats, civil servants, businesspeople, journalists from the state media as well as the banned private press, army and security personnel including former EPLF [Eritrean People's Liberation Front] fighters, two local employees of the US embassy, Eritreans forcibly returned from Malta in September 2002, and a recently visiting Eritrean with Swedish citizenship," the statement pointed out. It said they were jailed "on account of their non-violent opinions and criticisms of the government or, in some cases, their opposition to military conscription". "None has been brought before a magistrate, although the constitution and laws require this within 48 hours," the statement added. "None has been charged with any offence. Their detention is unlawful, but no lawyer or judge dares to challenge this." Of those detained since September 2001, only a handful had been freed, it said.