April 3, 2002

 SOLIDARITY WITH JOURNALISTS STAGING HUNGER STRIKE IN ASMARA,ERITREA

 Following the repression against relatively independent journalists by the ruling PFDJ in Eritrea, it is to be remembered that many had to flee to the Sudan, to the USA, to Saudi Arabia, etc while others have been thrown into prison. Those jailed had been interrogated (allegedly they are being accused of treason by colliding with the dissidents who challenged the rule of Isayas Afeworki) but they have been denied due process and have not up to now been brought before a court of law and properly charged.

These imprisoned are now in the middle of a hunger strike to bring attention to their plight and to demand their rights. SOCEPP expresses its solidarity with these journalists and condemns the violations of their rights and the rights of political dissidents as a whole by the authorities in Asmara. Numerous human rights organizations have reported that the violation of human rights all over Eritrea continues unchecked and the rule of law has been trampled upon time and again.

 The lot of independent journalists leaves much to be desired in the Horn of Africa.Both Meles Zenawi and Isayas Afeworki have been named to be among the ten worst predators of the free press in the world. The jailed journalists in Asmara as well as the political dissidents who expressed their opposition in a peaceful way and have been imprisoned are political prisoners on whose behalf human rights organizations should campaign.

SOCEPP expresses with the hunger striking journalists and calls for their immediate release and for an end to the violations of rights in Eritrea as a whole.

SOCEPP