The Swedish journalist, Dawit Isaak. Stock Photography. Photo: Donald Ahlsin, TT
The imprisoned Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak live, claiming the Eritrean foreign minister in a feature of the French radio station RFI, reports the Express. But in Sweden is the news received with skepticism.
In the interview with RFI get Foreign Minister Osman Saleh questions of people who are imprisoned in Eritrea. In the interview set specific question: “Among these prisoners are also journalist Dawit Isaak. Is he alive?”
– He also lives, responding Osman Saleh.
Osman Saleh says to RFI Isaak will make its judgment on a legal process, when the government decides so.
– I think he will be acquitted, says the minister.
reporter’s question whether it is the government that should decide whether Dawit be brought to justice, and not an independent judiciary, the Minister replies that Eritrea certainly have an independent judiciary, but it is the government that handles political prisoners.
“Good news”
Arhe Hamednaca, MP (S), Swedish-eritrean and government critics, think that the news is positive but want to see proof that it is true.
– the foreign minister said that he is alive, that’s good news but I doubt foreign minister. The only one who can confirm this is the president himself, he said to TT.
– We all of us waiting after being told that Dawit Isaak is alive and then he is acquitted, but we’ll see. I do not trust this dictatorship, they have given different statements before. But I hope it’s true.
“No greater hope”
Esayas Isaak’s brother prisoner. He says to Expressen that the foreign minister has no real power, but it is concentrated in the country’s President Isaias Afwerki. The brother does not think the Foreign Minister’s statements give much hope
– You can not detain someone for 15 years and say “he is alive”. Show us that He lives, says Esayas Isaak told the newspaper.
– That is a little coat after the wind, how they feel about talking to the outside world.
“No confirmation”
Meron Estefanos, Swedish-Eritrean human rights activist and journalist, is not surprised by the Foreign Minister’s comments.
– this is no confirmation, but they always say what they want to hear. He said that all prisoners of conscience are alive and in good health, but how do we know it. If that is so, why should not the families to visit them and see it for themselves, she said.
She says that she thinks that Dawit Isaak may be alive, but he will not be prosecuted.
– There’ve been 15 years since he was arrested. It is complex. Dawit was not alone to be imprisoned and they release him, they must release the others. If most have died will be difficult, says Meron Estefanos.
– Eritrea is one of the worst dictatorships in the present.
Arrested 2001
Dawit Isaak was arrested at his home September 23, 2001 by the Eritrean police along with several others who criticized the government in Eritrea. According to the Eritrean government, he sits in prison for crimes against national security.
Dawit Isaak has not been charged and the government in Eritrea allows no one to meet him. In November 2005 released Isaak, but three days later he was arrested again and since then he is in prison.
Isaak is a Swedish citizen since 1992.
the Facts: Eritrea
Eritrea on the horn of Africa has some 6.5 million inhabitants and is one of the world’s poorest countries.
the independence from Ethiopia in 1991, one-party state ruled by the dictator Isaias Afwerki and his party PFDJ.
In Sweden, best known for the imprisonment of the Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, 2001.
Around one million Eritreans believed today live outside the country, including tens of thousands in Sweden.
According to EU statistics searched 47,000 Eritreans asylum in Europe in 2015, quadrupled in three years.
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