Freedom of speech and media Overview

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15. Freedom of speech and media

and continued impunity for human rights violations against journalists provide little hope of this situation changing.

‘Eritrea’s legal framework sustains impunity for these human rights violations. Domestic legislation has essentially engineered an environment where Afewerki’s regime is insulated from criticism and has the discretionary means to crush any hint of dissent, often by relying on the perpetual state of emergency in the country. The failure of Afewerki’s regime to implement the 1995 constitution flies in the face of binding commitments made at the international and regional level to the right to freedom of expression and information. The Press Proclamation, the Transitional Penal Code for Eritrea, and the Proclamation to Determine the Administration of Non-governmental Organizations grant the authorities numerous mechanisms to punish dissent with extensive custodial sentences and fines.’ [85] (page 2)

Media organisations

15.03 The media section of the BBC ‘Eritrea Country Profile - Media’, updated on 15 August 2012, lists the state press agencies as: Hadas Eritrea (published three days a week);

Eritrea Profile (government-owned English language weekly paper); Tirigta

(pro-government youth weekly) and Geled (youth weekly); Eri-TV (state television); Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (Dimtsi Hafash) (state-run radio networks); Radio Zara (state-run FM network); and Erina (Eritrean state news agency). [25c]. The website for the Eritrean Ministry of Information (Shabait), accessed on 12 June 2013, under the index found on the homepage, listed several titles under the heading of local

newspapers. These were Eritrea Profile, Eritrea Alhaditha, Haddas Ertra (published daily) and Eritrea Haddas. [46a]

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Internet

15.04 The United States State Department ‘2012 Human Rights Report: Eritrea’, published on 19 April 2013, stated:

‘The government monitored some Internet communications, including e‑mail, without obtaining warrants. Internet users had a choice from among five service providers, some of which were government-owned. Internet cafes with limited bandwidth were available in Asmara and other major cities, but the vast majority of persons in the country did not have access to the Internet. According to the International

Telecommunications Union, 6.2 percent of individuals used the Internet in 2011. Internet users who needed larger bandwidth paid prices beyond the reach of most persons in the country.

‘Government informants frequented Internet cafes during periods of unrest in nearby countries or when international media reported news about the country. In previous years some Internet cafes closed on short notice, and their owners were said to have been detained on grounds of circulating pornography, although many believed that the cafes had facilitated access to opposition Web sites of the diaspora. The government discouraged citizens from viewing some opposition Web sites by labeling the sites and

their developers saboteurs. Some citizens expressed fear of arrest if caught viewing such sites. Nonetheless, the sites were generally available.

‘The government became more sophisticated in disseminating information via the

Internet, and a number of progovernment sites competed with opposition sites.’

[3b] (section 2a)

15.05 The Reporters Without Borders ‘Enemies of the Internet Report 2012’, published on 13 March 2012, about government restrictions on the use of the Internet stated that:

‘In this totally freedom-deprived country whose privately owned media were shut down in September 2001, the Internet remains the only space left where Eritreans are free to voice their opinions. Its use, however, is still very limited. Dictator Isaias Afewerki has imposed a climate of terror that has led the few Eritreans brave enough to connect despite technical obstacles and surveillance in the cybercafés to rely on self-censorship.

‘Leading diaspora websites such as Assenna.com, Asmarino.com and Awate.com are inaccessible mainly because of the slow bandwidth speed. No independent site is currently operated from Eritrea. Those living abroad who post writings on ‘banned’

websites often have to do so anonymously as a security measure…Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu, and Yemane Gebreab, are coordinating online propaganda,

disinformation initiatives on the Internet, cyberattacks against opposition sites, and crackdowns and pressure on the regime’s opponents. They have decided to occupy the social networks’ terrain and to confront their opponents there by disseminating their own pro-regime messages. One of the Facebook pages concerned is Eritrea First, which, as of early March 2012, boasts 2,500 friends and whose motto is “The nation always comes first.”

‘An unprecedented wave of cyberattacks struck several websites critical of the regime in early December 2011. Most of the opposition sites, including Assenna.com, Awate.com, Asmarino.com, were blocked for several days. Hackers allegedly attacked these sites’

databases in a vain attempt to delete their archives, but pro-government sites such as Meskerem.net, Alenalki.com, and Dehai.org were spared – a new censorship episode with which it would be difficult not to connect the Asmaran regime.’ [20a]

15.06 The Article 19 report, ‘Eritrea: A Nation Silenced’, published in June 2013, stated:

‘Eritrea lacks the infrastructure that would allow a more robust media to operate. It has an extremely small telephone network and one of the least internet hosts of any country in the world. The combined mobile and fixed line telephone reach is around 5%. As a result, usage statistics for all phones and the internet are also among the lowest globally; only 6.2% of the population use the Internet. In 2011, Eritrea planned to introduce mobile Internet capability, but these plans were abandoned, apparently because the government was fearful of the effect of the Arab Spring uprisings. The well-documented rise in broadband connectivity and access to smart phones that has seen an explosion of new media in Africa - particularly in Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria - has not reached Eritrea.’ [85] (pages 11-12)

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Journalists

15.07 A Reporters Without Borders report, ‘Three journalists held since 2001 die in Eiraeiro prison camp’, dated 30 August 2012, stated:

‘Three journalists held since 2001 die in Eiraeiro prison camp

‘After several weeks of investigating reports from sources in Eritrea and from prison guards who fled the country, Reporters Without Borders has been able to confirm that three more journalists – Dawit Habtemichael, Mattewos Habteab and Wedi Itay – have died in the northeastern prison camp of Eiraeiro. All three had been held since late 2001…

‘Dawit Habtemichael

‘Arrested on 21 September 2001 after hiding for three days in the school where he taught physics, Habtemichael was the deputy editor and co-founder of the biweekly Meqaleh. Aged 30 at the time of his arrest, he was one of the youngest of the Eritrean journalists to be detained. After his mental health began to deteriorate in 2007, he became schizophrenic and finally lost all contact with reality in 2010. The failure to treat his steadily worsening mental condition is thought to have been the cause of his death in the second half of 2010. He was prisoner No. 12 at Eiraeiro.

‘Mattewos Habteab

‘Meqaleh co-founder and editor Mattewos Habteab and another journalist, Temesgen Gebreyesus, were transferred to a prison in the Dahlak Archipelago in late 2008 but were subsequently brought back to the mainland, to Eiraeiro, and it was there that Habteab finally succumbed to the camp’s appalling conditions.

‘Sahle Tsegazab, aka Wedi Itay

‘Better known by the pen-name of Wedi Itay, Sahle Tsegazab was a freelance journalist and writer who often worked for privately-owned newspapers such as Keste Debena as well as the pro-government daily Hadas Eritrea. Arrested in October 2001, he died at Eiraeiro from an identified illness and from the lack of medical treatment.

‘It was previously established that four of the other journalists arrested around the same time in 2001 – Medhanie Haile, Yusuf Mohamed Ali, Said Abdulkader and Fessehaye

"Joshua" Yohannes – died in detention.’ [20b]

15.08 The Committee to Protect Journalists ‘2012 Prison Census’ report, published on 1 December 2012, provided information about the journalists who had been arrested in

2001:

‘More than 10 years after imprisoning several editors of Eritrea's once-vibrant independent press and banning their publications to silence growing criticism of

President Isaias Afewerki, Eritrean authorities had yet to account for the whereabouts, health, or legal status of the journalists, some of whom may have died in secret

detention.

‘The journalists were arrested without charge after the government suddenly announced on September 18, 2001, that it was closing the country's independent newspapers. The papers had reported on divisions within the ruling Party for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) and advocated for full implementation of the country's constitution. A dozen top

officials and PFDJ reformers, whose pro-democracy statements had been covered by the independent newspapers, were also arrested.

‘Authorities initially held the journalists at a police station in the capital, Asmara, where they began a hunger strike on March 31, 2002, and smuggled a message out of jail demanding due process. The government responded by transferring them to secret locations without ever bringing them before a court or publicly registering charges.

‘Over the years, Eritrean officials have offered vague and inconsistent explanations for the arrests-from anti-state conspiracies involving foreign intelligence to accusations of skirting military service to violating press regulations. Officials at times have even denied that the journalists existed. Meanwhile, shreds of often unverifiable, second- or third-hand information smuggled out of the country by people fleeing into exile have suggested the deaths of as many as five journalists in custody. Several CPJ sources said the journalists were confined at the Eiraeiro prison camp or at a military prison, Adi Abeito, based in Asmara.

‘In February 2007, CPJ established that one detainee, Fesshaye "Joshua" Yohannes, a co-founder of the newspaper Setit and a 2002 recipient of CPJ's International Press Freedom Award, had died in custody at the age of 47.

‘CPJ is seeking corroboration of reports that several other detainees may have died in custody. In August 2012, the international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, citing a former prison guard, said Dawit Habtemichael and Mattewos Habteab had died at Eiraeiro in recent years. In 2010, the Ethiopian government-sponsored Radio Wegahta also cited a former Eritrean prison guard as saying that Habteab had died at Eiraeiro.

‘An unbylined report on the Ethiopian pro-government website Aigaforum in August 2006 quoted 14 purported Eiraeiro guards as citing the deaths of prisoners whose names closely resembled Yusuf Mohamed Ali, Medhanie Haile, and Said Abdelkader.

The details could not be independently confirmed, although CPJ sources considered it to be generally credible. In 2009, the London-based Eritrean opposition news site

Assena posted purportedly leaked death certificates of Fesshaye, Yusuf, Medhanie, and Said.

‘CPJ lists the journalists on the 2012 prison census as a means of holding the

government accountable for their fates. Relatives of the journalists also told CPJ that they maintain hope their loved ones are still alive.’ [76a]

15.09 The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ‘Attacks on the Press 2012’ report, published on 14 February 2013, stated that:

‘CPJ identified Eritrea as the most censored country in the world in 2012. No

independent domestic news outlets have been allowed to operate since a widespread September 2001 government crackdown on dissent. The last accredited foreign news reporter was expelled in 2007. State media operate under the rigid control of

Information Minister Ali Abdu, who uses intimidation and imprisonment to enforce a government-approved message. The Red Sea nation is the continent’s leading jailer of journalists; the detainees include independent reporters and editors swept up in the 2001 crackdown, along with numerous state media journalists who have somehow violated the government’s strict controls. The detainees are held without charge and in secret locations. President Isaias Afwerki has consistently refused to account for the

whereabouts, legal status, or health of the jailed journalists, or even confirm reports that some have died in custody. Fearful state media journalists have fled the country in large numbers. Eritrea has the fifth highest number of exiled journalists in the world,

according to CPJ data. In July, the U.N. Human Rights Council unanimously

condemned “widespread and systematic violations” and appointed a representative to further investigate abuses, according to news reports.’ [76b]

15.10 The United States State Department ‘2012 Human Rights Report: Eritrea’, published on 19 April 2013, stated:

‘According to Reporters Without Borders, the government continued to detain 28

journalists as well as others associated with the media. The government did not provide information about their locations or health.

‘In August [2012] authorities reportedly arrested and detained without charge journalist Ahmed Shek Umer, chief of Arabic programming on Eri-TV. On December 29 [2012], they announced his release at an earlier date.

‘Reporters Without Borders cited former detention center guards as having stated that journalists Dawit Habtemichael, Mattewos Habteab, and Wedi Itay, who had been held in detention without trial since 2001, died at Eiraeiro detention camp, and another journalist who had been detained since 2009 died in Abi Abeito military prison. The exact dates of the deaths were not available but reportedly occurred in prior years.

‘There was no information available regarding journalists Nebiel Edris, Ahmed Usman, Mohamed Osman, and Tesfalidet Mebrahtu, whom authorities arrested in 2011.

‘Reporters Without Borders stated that authorities released Said Abdulhai, the former head of the Ministry of Information’s press department and the person responsible for the state newspaper. Authorities arrested him in 2010. Radio Bana staff member Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu, detained in 2009, reportedly was hospitalized.

‘Censorship or Content Restrictions: Most independent journalists remained in detention or abroad, which effectively limited any domestic media criticism of the government.

Journalists practiced self-censorship due to fear of government reprisal. Journalists were required to obtain government permission to take photographs.’ [3b] (section 2a) For further information on the treatment of prisoners, see Prison and detention centre conditions.

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