Eritrean journalist died trying to flee to Sudan

July 7, 2007 (ASMARA, Eritrea) — An Eritrean journalist working for state media died last month after trying to flee on foot across the border into Sudan, a media advocacy group said.

Paulos Kidane, who worked for the Amharic-language service of state-owned Eri-TV, fell sick after walking for six days along with seven other Eritreans, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said. He told the others to go on without him.

There was no word of his fate until the Information Ministry informed his family and state media staff at the end of June about his “accidental death,” Reporters Without Borders said Friday.

“The information ministry’s lies will not be able to hide the fact that Kidane was one of the many victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime,” the group said in a statement. No cause of death was given.

Information Minister Ali Abdu was not immediately available for comment, according to a man who answered the phone at the ministry Saturday.

Eritrea has no independent media. Reporters Without Borders’ 2006 Press Freedom Index ranked Eritrea at the top of the worst “predators” of press freedom along with North Korea, Cuba and China.

Paulos was one of nine journalists arrested last year after the defection of several prominent reporters. They were held on suspicion of staying in contact with the defectors or planning to flee the country themselves.

After his release, Paulos told Reporters Without Borders: “We were beaten and tortured in prison for refusing to give the passwords to our email accounts. In the end we cracked because the pain was too much.”

This tiny Horn of Africa country broke away from Ethiopia in a 1961-91 civil war and fought a border war with its rival in 1998-2000.

(AP)