Banned Books Week
Fessahaye Yohannes
ERITREA
poet. dramatist. reporter
A well-known poet, playwright, and writer of short stories, Fessahaye Yohannes was the director of a pre-independence Eritrean People’s Liberation Front cultural troupe that performed in Eritrea and abroad. A co-founder of and reporter for Setit, a weekly newspaper that championed the right to freedom of thought and opinion, he was arrested in Asmara.
Fessahaye Yohannes (“Joshua”), married father of three, is one of ten journalists detained incommunicado without charge or trial since late September 2001, when the private newspapers they work for were shut down because they had published articles critical of the government.
On 31 March 2002, they began a hunger strike, demanding a fair trial before an independent court. Three days later
they were taken from the police station where they were being held, and nine of them were moved to undisclosed
places of detention.
Dawit Isaac, co-owner and first editor of Setit (and holder of Swedish citizenship from an asylum claim and refugee recognition in the 1980s), reportedly was taken to a hospital to receive treatment for post-traumatic stress, but
nothing was heard of him afterward; he is still detained.
Because they are being held in a secret and unauthorized place of detention and the known conditions of detention in Eritrea are harsh, Amnesty International is extremely worried about the safety of the detainees. It is possible that they are being denied essential medical care.
Others detained since 2000 in connection with their work as journalists for private or government media also are considered by AI to be prisoners of conscience.
Please seek assurances that Fessahaye Yohannes is being treated humanely, has access to legal counsel, and has been informed of the reason for his arrest and any charges against him, as stipulated in Article 17-3 of the Eritrean Constitution. As a prisoner of conscience, Mr Fessahaye Yohannes should be released immediately and unconditionally.
President Issayas Afewerki
Office of the President
PO Box 257
Asmara, Eritrea
Salutation: Your Excellency
Ambassador Girma Asmerom
Embassy of the State of Eritrea
1708 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Salutation: Your Excellency
Airmail postage abroad: 80¢
