Screaming for help

Simret Seyum, Yusuf Mohamed Ali, Mattewos Habteab, Dawit Habtemichael, Medhanie Haile, Saadia, Temesgen Gebreyesus, Emanuel Asrat, Dawit Isaac, Fessehaye Yohannes, Said Abdulkader and Seyum Tsehaye are your fellow Eritrean citizens, journalists who wanted to say to you and to the whole world:

Here is our country a free nation among nations, a free society with its various opinions and convictions. At last the Eritrean people are free, free as the air and no need for care from any one.

Singing free in the air of liberty turned out to be a nightmare for the despot and he put them in jail, six lengthy months. All the same, free birds as they are, they could not sing or eat in cages. They are on hunger strike screaming for your help. It is a day your love to your people is tested; your love to freedom and justice is attested.

Our Heritage

When community threatened by natural catastrophes or merciless enemies, When acute droughts hits, when the moon or the sun eclipses, when epidemic diseases spreads, when a horrible sin was committed by own member/s of clan or village (Shifta, wars -Weke Duba is a good example), women, Moslems and Christians alike, carrying green olive leaves would climb a nearest mount to plead and protest �Abree Fgerna Debree, Rabe Afo blena, Ezgio mHarena, ya Afouk, ya Afouk�. Protest rather than submissiveness to fate.

Deacons would cling on to their church bells and keep ringing. Priests would bring out their arks �Tabout� in demonstration of resentment and urge. Muwazins would go up their mosque�s minarets and call �Assalatu JamiEa, Assalatu JamiEa� and when people gather in the mosque the Imam would say, �Oh the almighty Allah, we pray for your mercy. If this is because of what some sinners among us have committed then we ask for your forgiveness. Forgive us for the sake of the innocent children amongst us, for the sake of the old, for the sake of those who chant your name through the days and the long dark nights. Oh Allah, if this is to test the strength of our faith then we will humbly repent from our sins. We are all sinners and none of us will be saved but with your grace and mercy. Oh the Almighty, if this is a punishment because of the cruelty, injustices and crimes our leaders and rulers have committed, then oh The Almighty Allah, give us the strength to rectify them with our own swords. Oh Allah, You are the absolute righteousness, and one of your great names is -The Justice- thus guide us to the road of justice, the road You had guided your great prophet Mohamed�. It is prayer, protest and mobilization for what Emanuel Hidrat would call �Civil Disobedience� or may be a bit more.

Shame on us

We heard about many atrocities been committed in Sahil during the armed struggle but we considered it part of the price we had to pay for independence. We had witnessed some organizations destroying others and we considered it power struggle between our leaders and so we kept silent. We had witnessed war-disabled heroes murdered in cold blood in Mai Habar and yet we ignored it with a sigh and a little scratching of the head. Many people were dragged from their villages and later found dead and we believed the despot that they had been killed by Jihad. Seven years ago in Keren, a dozen or more teachers were arrested and their school was closed, we believed the government and dismissed them as Muslim fundamentalists. The same thing was repeated in GendaE and other towns but nobody dared even to believe it. The Imam of Barentu Mosque and many other Imams and religious leaders or community dignitaries (Seyedna Moh. Ali wed Shiekh Alamin for example) were dragged in humiliating manner and disappeared, no voice of condemnation was heard. Elected regional Baito representatives were arrested and some died in prison (Veteran Mahmoud Dinay, Moh. Kheir, Mahmoud Khalid and Dweda for instance) but no one dared to raise their case. Believers on their way to pilgrimage to Mecca (Veteran Abdalla Almeday for instance) were snatched from Asmara Air Port and their where about are unknown, however, no one has moved a finger to say �Ageb�. Arab NGO`s employees (Ali Moh. Musa and Fuad for instance) who worked on development projects were arrested and have been kept in jail without trial for many years but we cared the least.  Many people were taken at dawn by masked unknown people and made disappear, their children were orphaned and their wives widowed but we gave deaf ears to all claims of their families and friends. Even Suleiman the mentally retarded, hypothetically fundamentalist, who was a subject of one of my articles was a victim of DIA.

Veterans with unlike opinions and different evaluations of events than that of DIA, elderly, sick and ailing people who said -Abree Fgerna Debree-, journalists who educated and conveyed different opinions and views of Eritreans to their people, community dignitaries who refused to tell lies and condemn G15, were hoarded to prison cells and kept there with out been charged with any crime let alone having a fair day in court. It is said that even unfortunate private citizens were made victims of people who want to settle personal scares with them.  

Your Role counts a lot

Do you dare to say it loudly, Abree Fgerna Debree?

Wherever you live, say it now. Educate your children about the hunger strike, ask them to tell it to their classmates in school, knock to your neighbors and educate them, contact your MP, contact your local community government and representatives, contact any local organization or group interested in human rights, approach your local newspaper, TV and Radio station/s and tell them to allocate a minute or two for your case. Use lunch and coffee time and tell your colleagues at your work place, solicit their signatures and support, demonstrate alone or with others for one hour in the center of your town in the weekends, go to your church or mosque and tell the priests and the congregation of believers. Write a small note and put it on the rear glass of your car, write - Save Eritrean journalists on hunger strike- on a piece of paper pin it on the back of your jacket while doing your shopping and talk to any interested and willing individual.

Try to do the little you can, try to prove the love of your people and country to yourself first before you try to show it to others.

To our religious leaders at home

TeEdadet al asbabu wal mawtu wahid- there could be many causes for death but the end result is the same, death. I wonder where are the Muwazins who call on the believers �assalatu JammEa�? Where are the people who rectify their leaders with their swords? Where is our so-called our defense army? Where are our priests and their Tabouts? Where are the deacons and their church bells? Where are our good mothers and their, ya Afouk ya Afouk? Where is the tradition and heritage of Abree Fgerna Debree?

Shame on us if we fail to save the journalists

Shame on our defense force if they let these free birds die with hunger.

Shame on our priests who failed to carry their Tabout (ark) and say �ageb� DIA

Save the journalists

Stop the despot and his cronies