اريتريا : 12 عاما على حملة الاعتقالات الواسعة للصحفيين والسياسيين

Quote: Association of Eritrean Journalists: "Silence is betrayal" Wednesday, 18 September 2013 04:18 AEJE Association of Eritrean Journalists: "Silence is betrayal" 17 September 2013 For many Eritreans September is remembered as a month of pride and sorrow. It was a month that marked the start of Eritrea’s armed struggle that ultimately culminated in its independence. It was also a month that marked the start of an era of one man rule and political liquidation. However, for the Association of Eritrean Journalists in Exile (AEJE), it’s a month remembered in bitterness every single day with a double tragedy. In one way, it was a month where the thriving private newspapers were made to be shut down on September 18, 2001 and to make things even worse the regime decided to incarcerate all the editorial board members thereby to vanish in the wilderness of Era’Ero prison, a prison regarded by many of us, as the modern day Nazi Concentration Camp. Consequently, according to a credible eyewitness account of a former prison guard, several of our colleagues are presumed dead, as a result of their torture wounds and lack of proper medical attention. Fighting to change this unbearable state of affairs should not be a matter of a passionate political activism, it is rather a struggle for a person in a death row, for our colleagues are not in detention to serve their prison sentence, but to die a slow painful death. Even though far from home, we are haunted by the constant thought of the nightmarish fate of our colleagues in particular and our country by in general. As time goes by, we are increasingly feeling helpless and desperate, as every second counts for our colleagues. Hearing their legs and hands tied from their back 24/7 for 13 years, is something beyond any sane person’s comprehension. At the same time, it is something that we should all feel ashamed of, because seeing fellow human beings being treated in such an inhuman way, at a time when animal rights are respected is inexcusable and intolerable. The international community should never allow such an act of barbarism and heinous crime to go unpunished, hence, again we call upon the United Nations Human Rights Council, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the European Union foreign Affairs Commission, to intervene and pressurize the regime through all possible means, as it is time to say, no more business as usual, enough is enough. We also call upon the UN Special Rapporteur office to investigate the deaths and disappearances of Eritrean journalists. And yes we are in prison with the journalists, if not physically, mentally. Had it not been fate, many of our colleagues in exile today could have vanished in Era’Ero prison. Some lucky ones escaped after years of detention, now suffering with post-traumatic stress as a result. But, in spite all these challenges, we should all be determined to fight back the dictatorial regime to release our colleagues without any precondition. We should never be silent until justice prevails and all those culprits held accountable. The harrowing unprecedented massive attack on the private media happened, at a time when we had least expected. Eritrea; unlike many other African countries is a country born out of 30 years’ bitter war against Ethiopian colonialism. By a conservative estimate it paid 65,000 of its youth to realize the dream of being free and independent. And the launch of the private newspapers in the early 1997 was a testament to humble Eritreans, the price paid was not ended up in vain, for they had come to enjoy and cherish the down of an Era with the newly found freedom of expression. Many ordinary citizens began to constructively criticize to the transitional government in an effort to help create a prosperous and democratic nation. But, after so much sacrifice and struggle, and after 13 years of imprisonment of our colleagues, today we ask, what have we achieved so far? Today the dream of many of our citizens have evaporated into the thin air, today we got neither prosperity nor liberty; today we got neither the trial of our colleagues nor their immediate release. Today we got nothing, but lost everything. All what we got today is a country that ranked first on the list of countries with the worst record on press freedom violations, surpassing North Korea. Today we also got the massive flight of our colleagues to seek refuge elsewhere, in an effort to spare their lives. But, today we still have hope that one day, this manmade disaster will become history, that one day we will all sit and reflect back how we had failed and let this massive disaster to happen in front of our own eyes and that one day we will take a bold measures to prevent such kind of an adventure from ever happening again. Our message to fellow Eritreans The regime doesn’t attempt to kill the messenger by arresting our colleagues, but the intention was the message. A message is far more dangerous than an individual’s threat for a regime that has so much to hide from the rest of the public. Hence, imprisoning a journalist is silencing the rest of the population from speaking up against injustice. Therefore, silence is betrayal and we call upon all justice loving people in general and Eritreans in particular to raise their voice in unison in spite of their seemingly big difference of opinion. We should always remember it is our collective failure that led to the deterioration of our present situation. Over the last years, we have failed to see the big picture, by concentrating our effort extensively in attacking and counter attacking with each other, as if we had the monopoly of power to shape the destiny of our country alone. And a minute spent on such endeavor really hurts, it is like empowering the very regime to continue torturing our citizens back home unabated and in the process our people back home feel increasingly hopeless and helpless. Therefore, our main focus should always be the regime; we can’t always expect to resolve our difference of opinion, but we can only discuss them, however, that shouldn’t pass its limit and turn into outright animosity. With no democratic atmosphere in place, where such opinions could only be judged by the wider public, their importance seems irrelevant at the moment. Our strategy to fight the regime should be based on the realistic objective situation on the ground, other than on superficial idealistic aspirations. We should always remember not only our opinion, but equally others opinion also matters as much as ours in building a pluralistic democratic state. Hence, on this occasion our association would like to call upon all our political opposition groups and civic organizations, to create and embolden a united front in spite of their differences of opinion. Once a liberated democratic Eritrea is created all our differences could easily be discussed and if possible resolved through democratic means. Once again our private papers are expected to play the crucial role of minimizing the gaps and in facilitating to heal the wounds sustained by generations’ old oppression. And thereby cultivate a culture of tolerance, which is a cornerstone for sound democracy. Finally, we would like to plea again that the focus of our energy should be mounted towards fighting the real enemy at home and everyone who throws a single stone towards this objective should thus be regarded as a friend, regardless of his/her political opinion.