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EHRAG
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statement AI Index: AFR 64/009/2006 (Public) News Service No: 238 18 September 2006 Embargo Date: 18 September 2006 00:01 GMT Today is the fifth anniversary of the detentions without charge or trial of 11 former members of parliament, 10 journalists and hundreds of other men and women who were arrested in a crackdown on government critics calling for democratic reforms in September 2001. Recent allegations have been publicly circulating that several of the 11 former senior government figures detained in a secret prison and some journalists said to have been held with them, have died in detention on account of the harsh conditions and denial of medical treatment. It has been claimed, for example, with no verifiable response by the Eritrean authorities, that General Ogbe Abraha, former army chief of staff, died in July 2002 of injuries from a failed suicide attempt, despite medical treatment. The other deaths allegedly occurred in later years after detainees fell ill. Amnesty International has been unable to obtain confirmation of these allegations and is investigating further. Despite numerous appeals over the years and international concern about their detentions, the authorities have never disclosed their whereabouts or conditions in detention or allowed any access to them. In order to clarify the situation of these detainees, who in effect "disappeared" after arrest, Amnesty International calls on the government to form an independent and impartial inquiry team to visit the secret prison where the detainees are held, interview them privately, and report publicly on their situation and conditions of detention and health. Amnesty International again urges that the detentions should be brought within the framework of Eritrean constitutional and legal provisions, as well as the international human rights treaties which The 11 members of parliament (known as members of the "G15" or "group of 15" and including former government ministers) were publicly accused of “treason” during the war with Most of the several thousand political and religious prisoners in Continuing religious persecution The pattern of religious persecution reported by Amnesty International in December 2005 continues. Some 50 students were reportedly arrested in May 2006 for not joining an Independence Day rally. 29 worshippers were arrested at home prayer meetings in the capital A total of about 2,000 men, women and children, including 35 pastors, who belong to evangelical Christian churches which were closed down in 2002, are held in some 14 prisons around the country. Gospel singer Helen Berhane, for whom there have been thousands of appeals worldwide, with no government response, has been held incommunicado for over two years in army custody. Although offered release if they sign a statement agreeing to abandon their faith and cease clandestine worshipping, few have done so, even when tortured. 31 Jehovah's Witnesses, three of whom are now in their 13th year of imprisonment, are also detained, as well as four clerics of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, whose Patriarch is reportedly under house arrest. Some 70 members of a dissident Muslim group have been detained without charge for two years. BACKGROUND Opposition parties and independent civil society organisations or human rights defence groups are not allowed. Non-state media have been shut down since September 2001 and a total of 14 journalists are in detention. Criticism of the government is vigorously suppressed. Religious worship by faith groups denied official registration (that is, all except the permitted Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches and Islam) is forbidden, contrary to the Constitution's protection of the right to freedom of belief. Several thousand men and women have fled from |
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