Radio France Internationale (RFI) interview<\/a> broadcast on 20 June, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh referred to the detainees as political prisoners and said \u201call of them are alive\u201d and will be tried \u201cwhen the government decides\u201d.<\/p>\nAmnesty International considers all 21 prisoners of conscience and has campaigned for their release since they were arrested 15 years ago. It is a travesty of justice that they have been held incommunicado for so long without charge or trial<\/p>\n
The detainees, who were arrested in September 2001, included 11 politicians and 10 journalists.\u00a0Until now the Eritrean authorities have refused to disclose their whereabouts or their health status to their families.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmnesty International considers all 21 prisoners of conscience and has campaigned for their release since they were arrested 15 years ago. It is a travesty of justice that they have been held incommunicado for so long without charge or trial,\u201d said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International\u2019s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey must be immediately and unconditionally released as they should never have been locked up in jail in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 11 politicians \u2013 all former members of the Central Council of the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) including former Foreign Minister Petros Solomon (above) – were arrested after they \u00a0published an open letter to the government and President Isaias Afewerki in September 2001 calling for reform and \u201cdemocratic dialogue\u201d. The journalists were arrested over the following week.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll prisoners of conscience in Eritrea must be immediately and unconditionally released. Anyone suspected of a criminal offence must be charged with a recognizable crime and tried promptly before a civilian court in accordance with international fair trial standards, or released,\u201d said Sarah Jackson.<\/p>\n
Background<\/strong><\/p>\nOn the same day that the politicians were arrested, the government announced the deregistration of the entire privately-owned press, and over the following week 10 leading journalists were also arrested.<\/p>\n
Nine of the politicians and four journalists Dawit Isaak, Dawit Habtemichael, Mattewos Habteab and Wedi Itay, have previously been reported to have died in detention.<\/p>\n
The Eritrean regime has always refused to confirm these reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Eritrean foreign minister\u2019s confirmation that all politicians and journalists arbitrarily arrested in 2001 are alive is welcome news but they must now be immediately and unconditionally released, said Amnesty International. In a Radio France Internationale (RFI) interview broadcast on 20 June, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh referred to the detainees as political prisoners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Eritrea: Immediately and unconditionally release prisoners of conscience 21 June 2016, 19:05 UTC - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eritrea: Immediately and unconditionally release prisoners of conscience 21 June 2016, 19:05 UTC - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" The Eritrean foreign minister\u2019s confirmation that all politicians and journalists arbitrarily arrested in 2001 are alive is welcome news but they must now be immediately and unconditionally released, said Amnesty International. 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<\/p>\n