Eritrean report on imprisoned journalists still pending: minister

ASMARA, Oct 6 (AFP) — A report by Eritrean members of parliament on journalists, called “agents of the enemy” by Eritrea, and who have been imprisoned since 2001, is still pending, Eritrea’s information minister said Wednesday.

In September 2001, Asmara decided to “suspend” all private Eritrean media and arrested several Eritrean journalists, after some members of the ruling party called for democratic reforms in a letter to President Isaias Afeworki.

Eighteen journalists were imprisoned, according to a 2003 report by international human rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch.

They were not journalists, but “agents of the enemy during and after the war” fought between Eritrea and Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000, Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed told an AFP journalist in an interview.

The Eritrean lawmakers have been preparing a report on the detainees since 2001.

“They have been working for three years, three years is not too long,” Abdu said, adding: “I have no idea of the date when the findings of the report will be announced.”

Private media in Eritrea have not been forbidden, but only “suspended”, he insisted.

The detainees “were not journalists, either professionally nor ethically”. If they are in prison it is for “treason, it is connected to national security, and with that we cannot compromise,” Abdu stressed.