ERITREA: CPJ CALLS FOR RELEASE OF JAILED REPORTERS
Calling Eritrea the number one jailer of journalists in Africa, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) delivered more than 600 petitions last week to the Eritrean government urging authorities to release journalist Isaias Afewerki and 17 other colleagues being secretly held across the country.
ERITREA: CPJ CALLS FOR RELEASE OF JAILED REPORTERS
Calling Eritrea the number one jailer of journalists in Africa, the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) delivered more than 600 petitions
last week to the Eritrean government urging authorities to release
journalist Isaias Afewerki and 17 other colleagues being secretly held
across the country.
During a meeting in Washington, D.C. with the Eritrean ambassador to the
United States, CPJ handed over 607 petitions, including the signatures
of senior media executives from CNN, ABC News, CBS News and the "Wall
Street Journal."
CPJ also met members of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, urging
them to lobby for the release of Eritrean journalists, and sent a letter
to U.S. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld encouraging him to raise the
issue in future meetings with Eritrean authorities.
Afewerki is the editor of Eritrea's largest circulation newspaper
"Setit." Last November, CPJ honoured him with an International Press
Freedom Award. Most of the 18 imprisoned journalists were detained in
September 2001 when the government cracked down on the private press as
part of a wider clampdown on political dissent, CPJ says. All private
media were subsequently banned.
To sign a petition, visit CPJ's special campaign page on Afewerki:
www.cpj.org/Briefings/2003/Joshua/joshua.htm
Visit these links:
- CPJ Report on Eritrea:
www.cpj.org/Briefings/2003/Joshua/war_words.html
- Reporters sans frontières:
www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=1828&Valider=Consult
- Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org/africa/eritrea.php