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Press Release
Another
Assault on Press Freedom
London,
17 July 2003
Eritreans for Human and
Democratic Rights - UK (EHDR-UK) is alarmed by yet another arrest of a
journalist. Mr Aklilu Solomon, condemns the
action taken against Voice of America journalist (VOA) correspondent, was
arrested on Tuesday, 8 July 2003.
Armed plainclothes men took him to an undisclosed location. The authorities had seized his
licence ten days before his arrest. His arrest was carried out under the
pretext of failure to fulfil his 'Sawa' military duty. According to VOA, the US funded
radio station, Mr Aklilu Solomon had fulfilled part of his military
service five years ago and was certified as medically unfit for the
remaining part.
It is, however, common
knowledge that the real reason for his arrest was his 'unpatriotic'
reportage of the people's reaction to the disclosure of Eritrea’s
war-dead which contradicted state media coverage. The state claimed that the
families received the news of their dead children with 'patriotic
fervour' - with vivacity and ululation, while Mr Aklilu Solomon's live
reportage showed just the opposite.
This is another unacceptable
abuse of state power against law-abiding citizens and another means of
controlling the information coming out of Eritrea. Arbitrary arrest and
disappearance have sadly become the norm in today’s Eritrea.
It is to be remembered that
in September 2001, the Eritrean government closed all private media
outlets in the country and, with the exception of few who managed to flee
the country, arrested all the editors and journalists associated with
them. Eighteen journalists (including Solomon) now languish in prison,
most of them held incommunicado in unknown locations. The Eritrean president recently
described these journalists as 'spies'.
Eritrea has a bad record of
press freedom. In fact, on
World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2003, CPJ named Eritrea one of the
world's 10 Worst Places to be a Journalist. PFDJ, the ruling party has a
firm grip on the state media, whose employees face strict censorship.
EHDR-UK condemns this act in
the strongest terms and calls on the Eritrean authorities to immediately
release Mr Aklilu Solomon, his colleagues and all those arrested without
due process of law.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors
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