Mereja.Forum

[Awash]

...He has been incommunicado since his arrest on 23rd September 2001, at which time the Eritrean government began a campaign to silence its critics, arresting opposition politicians, students and many journalists, and the editors of all privately owned newspapers. According to PEN, the situation of Asrat and his fellow writers "remains unclear" and it is unknown whether charges have been brought against them or if they have ever been brought to trial. The organisation has said it is believed they have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and Asrat is believed to be among the few surviving journalists arrested in 2001.

Johnson paid tribute to Asrat: "Keeping a citizen incarcerated, incommunicado, without charge or trial for nearly 20 years is the kind of egregious brutality that we associate with totalitarian states and dictatorships. As a gesture of solidarity from a poet of the African diaspora, I have chosen the Eritrean poet, songwriter, critic, and journalist Amanuel Asrat as the Writer of Courage for 2020."..

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/erit ... ge-1222197