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Eritrea
Urgent appeals
659. On 18 December 2003, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Chairperson- Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention regarding Aster Yohannes, aged 45. According to the allegations received, on 11 December 2003, she was detained by security personnel at the international airport in Asmara, when she returned after a three-year period studying in the United States of America. She has not been permitted to see her family. Ms. Yohannes is a former member of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) and is married to Mr. Petros Solomon, a former Minister for Foreign Affairs who himself is reportedly detained incommunicado and in secret since September 2001. Ms. Yohannes is suffering from a heart ailment, as well as asthma.
660. By letter dated 9 February 2004, the Government informed that the allegations are self-serving absurdities. Ms. Yohannes is not in custody because of her husband’s political opinions, or her own political views, but because of mismanagement of funds when she was heading the Export Department of the Ministry of Fisheries, which was then headed by her husband.
661. On 24 February 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression regarding 38 members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to the allegations received, on 24 January 2004, the police arrested them while they were holding a religious service in a private home in Asmara. Ten were released without charge in the next few days, but 28 remain in custody, including children and a 90-year-old man. The whereabouts of the 28 persons are unknown.
662. On 11 March 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression regarding Pastor Mengist Tewelde-Medhin, and 55 women, children and men from the Hallelujah Pentecostal Christian church, Asmara. According to the allegations received, on 12 February 2004, police and security officers arrested them while they were participating in a religious service in a private home. It is believed that most of the arrested people are still being held incommunicado, without charge or trial, in police stations or army camps and are being illtreated or tortured in order to force them to abandon their faith. Pastor Mengist Tewelde- Medhin is being held at Adi Abeto military prison, Asmara, in harsh conditions. Following their arrest, about 18 church members were taken to Mai Serwa military prison and punished for evading national service, which is compulsory for all males and females over 18. They are locked up in metal shipping containers, where conditions are said to be suffocating and in which temperatures range from zero degrees at night to 28C in the day. Twenty-five girls and boys were arrested and taken to the main Sawa military training centre, where they were locked up in a shipping container and forced to do farm work. Younger children were arrested and held in police custody for several days until their parents were finally allowed to take them home, allegedly after being made to sign a statement declaring they would no longer practice their religion. Older men and women were reportedly detained in police stations without charge or trial and allegedly coerced into abandoning their faith. Sme were released when they signed a statement in which they promised not to worship again. It is believed that persecution on the grounds of religion has intensified in Eritrea since the closure of "minority" Christian churches in May 2002. Reports were received of arrests in the past year of hundreds of "home worshippers" or military conscripts found with bibles (cited in previously transmitted communications, E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.1, paras. 632 and 635).
663. On 3 June 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, regarding Haile Naizgi, pastor and chairperson of the Eritrean Full Gospel Church, Kiflu Gebremeskel, pastor of the Eritrean Full Gospel Church, and Tesfatsion Hagos, pastor of the Rema Evangelical Church. According to the allegations received, on 23 May 2004, Haile Naizgi and Kiflu Gebremeskel were arrested at their homes in Asmara, and are currently held incommunicado in the 1st and 6th police stations, respectively. They had not been taken to court within the 48 hours required by law, or charged with an offence. Tesfatsion Hagos was arrested on 27 May while on a visit to Massawa port. His whereabouts are unknown.
664. On 20 July 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression regarding Ms. Akberet Gebremichael, aged 30, Asmerom Beraki, aged 50, Gebrehiwet Tedla, aged 87, Gebreselassie Adhanom, aged 94, Mikias Gebru, aged 19, Ms. Rebka Gebretensae, aged 39, Samson Tesfalem, aged 24, Sertsu Yilma, aged 55, Tedros Atsbeha, aged 25, Tekle Gebrehiwet, aged 40, Tsegaberhan Berhe, aged 41 and Yemane Tsegay, aged 41, all Jehovah’s Witnesses (cited in a previously transmitted communication). According to the allegations received, the 26 individuals who were arrested at the same time as the 12 above named persons have been released. However, the latter are still detained incommunicado at an unknown location, without charge or trial.
665. On 11 November 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, concerning large scale round-ups of Eritrean males. According to the allegations received, on 4 and 5 November 2004, the Eritrean Defense Force (EDF) conducted large scale round-ups in Asmara of Eritrean men between 18 and 40 years of age, however, during their search the EDF also arrested teenagers, college and university students, demobilized soldiers, policemen, national civil servants and foreigners who could likely be confused to be Eritrean. More than 50,000 men were arrested over this period. People were arrested in the streets, schools, workplaces and homes, in a harsh, systematic manner and without search warrants. Homes of United Nations staff members were also searched. It is reported that the round-ups were connected with the Eritrean National Service Policy. Eyewitnesses reported that all those who did not comply with the orders were publicly beaten. On the night of 4 November in Adi Abeto military camp, 4km outside Asmara, a riot between detainees and prison guards broke out, sparked by the lack of food provided by the guards. Some detainees attempted to escape over a wall, which subsequently collapsed. A shooting incident followed with at least 25 deaths, including five guards, and around 100 people were injured. They are reportedly receiving medical treatment at Halibet Hospital. Conditions in the camp are severe, with little sanitation, and detainees have been forced to sleep outside in the cold without blankets or shoes. The prisoners have no access either to their families or to lawyers. According to the Eritrean National Service Proclamation No. 82/1995, all Eritrean citizens between 18 and 40 years old are required to perform 18 months’ military and national service. However, following the conflict with Ethiopia, this obligation continues to be prolonged indefinitely. The Government has reportedly called up United Nations national staff members for service, in contravention of section 18 (c) of the 1946 Convention on Privileges and Immunities. Since the beginning of 2004 more than 50 staff members of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) have reportedly been arrested and detained of which four are still unaccounted for. In an incident reported in past months, about 30 national staff of UNMEE were arrested while returning home on an UNMEE bus. Some of these persons were immediately sent to the military camp in Sawa.
Follow-up to previously transmitted communications
666. By letter dated 29 January 2004, the Government provided information concerning about 400 students (E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.1, para. 629). The Government informed that on
11 August 2001 a few hundred students were demonstrating in front of the High Court,
primarily for evading a summer vacation work programme, and were arrested for
demonstrating without a permit and disturbing the peace. The students were briefly sheltered
in Asmara Stadium, which is covered, and has sufficient seating and toilet facilities to
accommodate over 10,000 spectators. They were then taken to join over 3,000 of their schoolmates who had responsibly started participating in the summer vacation work
programme. It was unfortunate that two of the students had died of sunstroke. This is not a
daily occurrence and could have happened in other work sites too. Thus it is not in any way
possible to link it with torture or mistreatment. The summer vacation work programme has
been going on for several years and takes place all over Eritrea. There is no substance to the
malicious allegations made by persons with political motives and determined to malign the
Government. It is untrue that security personnel had mistreated parents who wished to see
their children, although there may have been exchanges of strong words between them. It is
also untrue that they were tortured or physically abused or even treated in any way different
from their other schoolmates. It must be noticed that all but five of these students went back
to their families and schools after completing the three-month programme. It is true that five
were delayed for about five weeks for disciplinary reasons. It is also untrue that Semere
Kessete was held incommunicado in a high-security prison. The fact that he was able to
escape easily is ample evidence that he was placed in a relaxed facility. Torture is alien to
Eritrean culture and a brief study of the history of the liberation struggle, during which tens of
thousands of Ethiopians have been taken prisoner will clearly demonstrate that not even
enemy soldiers have been mistreated. It is thus unconscionable that the Government would
mistreat, let alone torture, its own citizens, and school children at that. On the other hand it is
not (as in anywhere else in the world) impossible that some individuals may have acted
improperly. On such occasions, it is customary that disciplinary action is taken by appropriate
authorities at all levels of responsibility. This is certain because it is standard disciplinary
procedure. Needless to say, no systematic violation of human rights took place to warrant
attention, let alone action. In spite of the paucity of its resources, the Government is fully
committed to the protection of its citizens and will undertake appropriate investigations and
when necessary, impose appropriate sanctions, on any person found guilty of the infringement
of the rights of citizens.
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Equatorial Guinea
Ethiopia
This report has been published by Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights on July 27, 2005.