Mereja.Forum

[Aba]

Opinion by Judith Abitan and Irwin Cotler

Today at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Judith Abitan is the executive director of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. Irwin Cotler is the international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and member of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom.

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The continuing war in Ethiopia has shocked the world with its brutality — and also offers a reminder of the viciousness of the dictatorship in neighboring Eritrea, which has welcomed the chance to settle scores with old foes across the border by intervening in the fighting.

Yet the atrocities committed by Eritrean forces in this conflict will come as little surprise to those who have followed President Isaias Afwerki’s efforts to transform his country into one of the world’s most relentless autocracies. And no one embodies the victims of his regime better than Dawit Isaak, a prolific writer and courageous journalist who may soon mark the 20th anniversary of his imprisonment...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... s-freedom/

[Aba]

...On Sept. 23, 2001, Eritrean security forces arbitrarily detained Isaak — then reporting for Eritrea’s first independent newspaper, Setit — without charge or trial along with at least 10 other independent journalists. Isaak, a dual Eritrean-Swedish citizen, was unexpectedly released for medical treatment in 2005 but arrested again two days later. Nothing has been heard of him since. His present condition and whereabouts are unknown (though we have reason to hope that he is still alive). Some of the journalists arrested with him have already died in detention. Isaak and his colleagues are the longest detained journalists in the world today.

Setit had published an open letter to President Afwerki by 15 members of Eritrea’s ruling party, calling for democratic reform. Eleven of the authors were detained without charge or trial. No independent media have operated in Eritrea since. The few remaining state-owned outlets operate as mouthpieces for the government.

Isaak’s predicament attests not only to the brutality of Afwerki’s regime, but also presents a case study in the global assault on media freedom by authoritarian regimes that have used the pandemic as an excuse to evade impunity and cover up their crimes. The regime’s crackdown on dissent has been well-documented and continues to draw profound concern from the international community. More recently, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has presented overwhelming evidence that the Eritrean armed forces “massacred scores of civilians, including children as young as 13,” in the Ethiopian city of Axum in November 2020.

The Afwerki regime has repeatedly ignored every petition and relevant ruling for Isaak’s release — including a final and binding ruling issued by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2016.

Due to Isaak’s Swedish citizenship, human rights organizations have repeatedly urged the government in Stockholm to investigate the Eritrean government’s gross and persistent violations of Isaak’s basic human rights. The most recent complaint was filed on Oct. 28, 2020 by Isaak’s Swedish lawyers, Reporters Without Borders, and 11 prominent international lawyers.

Swedish prosecutors have declined to open such a case, claiming, among other reasons, that doing so could have a negative effect on Swedish-Eritrean relations. It has also argued that pursing an investigation could harm efforts by the Swedish foreign ministry to obtain Isaak’s freedom.

Yet over the past two decades, nine Swedish foreign ministers have failed to make any progress. As we write this, the Swedish parliament recently announced the establishment of a long-awaited independent commission of inquiry to review and evaluate the work of the government’s efforts to help Isaak. Yet concrete steps to free Isaak still seem far away.

Last year, Reporters Without Borders published a report concluding that Eritrea has “benefitted both politically and financially” from keeping Isaak in prison. Among other concessions, Sweden has lobbied for the lifting of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Eritrea and has declined to place any conditions on European Union development aid. In its efforts to avoid any clash with Afwerki’s regime that might jeopardize Isaak’s release, the Swedish government ended up accommodating it.

This year marks the final year of Sweden’s four-year observance of its 100th anniversary of democracy, which aims to celebrate the country’s fundamental rights and freedoms. While Isaak, one of Sweden’s citizens, has become an international symbol of media freedom, the Swedish prosecutors’ ongoing refusal to investigate his case appears to undermine the rule of law. The failure to prosecute may be said to indulge, if not incentivize, impunity.

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The community of democracies cannot remain silent, and must hold the Afwerki regime to account. The crimes committed against Isaak unequivocally fall under universal jurisdiction. Countries that wish to defend democratic values and the rule of law should impose Magnitsky sanctions against Eritrean government officials. They should push for a resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council demanding that the Eritrean government adhere to its international legal obligations by immediately and unconditionally releasing Isaak. And the U.N. Security Council should refer the situation to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, pursuant to the 2016 recommendation of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea. We owe Isaak nothing less.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... s-freedom/

[Zmeselo]

You 1st, AmeriKKKa!

Agree with AmNasty, on this one.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CENSORSHIP AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
USA must drop charges against Julian Assange



https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved ... a-justice/

Authorities in the USA must drop the espionage and all other charges against Julian Assange that relate to his publishing activities as part of his work with Wikileaks. The US government’s unrelenting pursuit of Julian Assange for having published disclosed documents that included possible war crimes committed by the US military is nothing short of a full-scale assault on the right to freedom of expression.

Julian Assange is currently being held at Belmarsh, a high security prison in the UK, on the basis of a US extradition request on charges that stem directly from the publication of disclosed documents as part of his work with Wikileaks. Amnesty International strongly opposes any possibility of Julian Assange being extradited or sent in any other manner to the USA. There, he faces a real risk of serious human rights violations including possible detention conditions that would amount to torture and other ill-treatment (such as prolonged solitary confinement). The fact that he was the target of a negative public campaign by US officials at the highest levels undermines his right to be presumed innocent and puts him at risk of an unfair trial.

Julian Assange’s publication of disclosed documents as part of his work with Wikileaks should not be punishable as this activity mirrors conduct that investigative journalists undertake regularly in their professional capacity. Prosecuting Julian Assange on these charges could have a chilling effect on the right to freedom of expression, leading journalists to self-censor from fear of prosecution.

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A list of 54 political prisoners in the United States
https://operamundi.uol.com.br/politica- ... ted-states

[Aba]

Bozzo,
If your wedi komarit tyrant is so cruel to an Eritrean, how cruel can he get to the Ethiopian?

[Zmeselo]

An indirect admission, of PIA's unquestionable Eritreanism. A step forward!