[The following is an excerpt from a report by Reporters Without Borders which discloses previously undisclosed information about Eira Eiro, one of Eritrea's many prisons where prisoners of conscience, including reporters. are kept.  For the full report, follow this link: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25251]The daily hell

The prisoners are kept day and night under the light of an electric bulb and in complete isolation. Some are manacled by the feet or hands. Others are not. When they are not shut up in their cells, the prisoners are taken to one of the three interrogation rooms. The interrogation sessions are often conducted by Abdulla Jaber, the security chief of the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, or other senior officials such as Yemane “Monkey” Gebread [Gebreab], President Issaias’ advisor. The prisoners are tortured during these sessions. They are hit with plastic whips, for example. There are messages written over the doors of the interrogation rooms. One says : “Did you see who died before you ?” Another says : “If you don’t like the message, kill the messenger.”

The heads of the prisoners are shaved every two months by a barber, who is accompanied by a guard to prevent him talking to them. They are given food twice a day in a plastic bowl - a soup of lentils, vegetables or potatoes. They also have a glass of tea in the morning and six pieces of bead. They are only allowed one litre of water a day. Detainees in very poor health may he given an additional water ration, but only if prescribed by the camp physician, Dr. Haile Mihtsun. If he issues a prescription, it is posted on the cell door. The administrator turns on the water in the pipe over the latrine for only 20 minutes a week. The prisoners have to wash themselves and their clothes in that short period of time.

According to information obtained by Reporters Without Borders in Asmara and abroad in 2006 and 2007, at least nine prisoners had died in Eiraeiro including Tsigenay editor Yusuf Mohamed Ali, believed to have died on 13 June 2006, Keste Debena deputy editor Medhane Haile, believed to have died in February 2006 and Admas editor Said Abdulkader, believed to have died in March 2005. Reporters Without Borders subsequently learned that poet and playwright Fessehaye “Joshua” Yohannes, co-founder of the now banned weekly Setit, died in detention on 11 January 2007. The source interviewed this month confirmed Fessehaye’s death in detention. He said he was held in cell No. 18. He also said there is a cemetery “behind the administrator’s building where at least seven people are buried.”

Recommendations

The prison camp known as Eiraeiro is a disgrace for Eritrea and Africa. The leaders attending the three-day African Union summit that begins on 31 January must not turn a blind eye to the fact that the Eritrean government acts with extraordinary cruelty towards all those it regards as a potential threat to its survival.

In the light of this information, Reporters Without Borders recommends that :

  That the governments of the African Union member states and the leading democratic nations summon the Eritrean ambassador in each of their capitals to express their revulsion at the inhuman treatment of political prisoners and to request their release. The foreign ministries should also demand an end to the extortion practised by Eritrean embassies to supplement Asmara’s finances. All Eritreans living abroad are forced to hand over at least 2 per cent of their income to their embassy in the country where they reside, under pain of being forbidden to return home, own any property in Eritrea or send packages to their families.

  The European Union should adopt targeted sanction against the officials responsible for repression and prison camps. The following persons, in particular, should at the very least be banned from visiting EU countries : presidential chief of staff and spokesman Yemane Gebremeskel ; special presidential adviser Yemane Gebreab, whose presence in Eiraeiro and other camps has been reliably reported ; defence minister Gen. Sebhat Ephrem ; camp administrator Isaac “Wedi Hakim” Araia ; local government and information minister Naizghi Kiflu, who was responsible for the 2001 round-ups ; acting information minister Ali Abdu, who is in charge of propaganda ; camp doctor Haile Mihtsun ; Col. Michael Hans, also known as “Wedi Hans,” commander of the 32nd division, which is in charge of the area where Eiraeiro is located ; Col. “Wedi Welela,” head of intelligence in Administrative Zone No. 5 ; and former camp administrator Maj. Gen. Gerezghiher “Wuchu” Andemariam.