OUR HEROES
They were politicians and journalists, both establishment stalwarts and boundless dreamers. What united them was a desire to realise Eritrea’s independence promises of democracy and civil rights, and break the government’s freefall into warfare and authoritarianism. But in 2001, their hopes were dashed. They were detained without trial, indefinitely.
The Politicians (G-15)
After gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1991, Eritrea began its journey towards constitutional democracy. The armed group which had led the country’s independence struggle, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), transformed into a political unit, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ).
During the country’s 1998-2000 border war with neighbouring Ethiopia, senior Eritrean officials began to question the leadership of President Isaias Afwerki. They were shocked that a relatively minor border conflict had blown up into a full-scale war, claiming thousands of lives and crushing efforts to rebuild the country democratically after independence. They were also dismayed at repeatedly delayed elections.
In light of a host of other human rights and democracy issues, 15 of these critical officials penned an open letter of critique to the President—calling for reform and slamming Isaias’ actions as “illegal and unconstitutional.”
“Because of the weakness of the legislative and executive bodies, the President has been acting without restraint, even illegally… The president has become so accustomed to acting freely and as he pleased, he is rejecting democratic dialogue… [He] has created a competing Special Court reporting directly to him. People are being jailed for years without the knowledge and agreement of the judiciary…”
Eleven of these 15 critics, known as the G-15, have all been detained indefinitely without trial since September 18, 2001.
Mahmoud Ahmed Sherifo
Mahmoud Ahmed Sherifo was one of the most revered leaders of the battle for Eritrean independence. He spent years fighting on the front line in the Sahel Mountains, alongside Isaias Afwerki. Born in 1948, he was a founding member of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) and went on to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as Vice President from 1993-1994.
In February 2001, a legislative committee that Mahmoud headed defied an order from the President to stop a draft law allowing multiparty elections from reaching the National Assembly. He was fired the day after the legislative committee report was released.
At the time of Mahmoud’s arrest, his son Ibrahim Sherifo was just 13 years old. “I woke up before the crack of dawn to the sound of pounding boots and shouted commands,” he told BBC Tigrinya. Mahmoud’s wife Aster Fissehatsion was also detained. “I still miss them a lot... I even dare to dream of their release.”
According to Eyob Bahta Habtemariam, a man who claims to have been a guard at the high-security Eiraeiro detention facility, Mahmoud Ahmed Sherifo died in 2003 after being denied medical treatment.
Aster Fissehatsion
Born in 1951, Aster Fissehatsion was an executive representative of the National Union for Eritrean Women, a body which organized women’s participation during the independence war. She joined the EPLF in 1974 and served as a political commissioner.
After independence, Aster became a member of the National Assembly, and was elected to the PFDJ’s Central Council. She later became Director of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
“Running out in the yard, I was just in time to see my mother being dragged from the house by soldiers,” Aster’s son Ibrahim Sherifo told the BBC about the day his mother was jailed. She hasn’t been seen since. According to alleged former Eiraeiro guard Eyob Bahta, Aster died in 2003 from heat exhaustion.
Petros Solomon
Petros Solomon, born 1951, was a star of the Eritrean establishment, having co-founded the EPLF and serving as a key military commander and intelligence chief during the independence war. He led the EPLF troops that seized Asmara. In 1997, he joined the Front’s political bureau, before being appointed defence minister in 1992. Two years later, he became Eritrea’s foreign minister. After falling out with Isaias, Petros was demoted to head of the Ministry of Marine Resources in 1997.
Everything changed in 2001. “In the morning, when he woke up, I asked, where are you going?” Solomon’s daughter Hanna told One Day Seyoum. “He was like, I’ll be back, I’m just going for a jog.” That was the last time she saw her father. Petros’ wife Aster Yohannes was detained two years later.
Hamid Himid
Raised in Sudan and educated in Egypt and Iraq, Hamid Himid, born 1955, had a vast knowledge of the Middle East and the Arab world.
He put this to use in a range of foreign policy and diplomatic roles – including head of the Middle East Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Sudan and Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Hamid served as a member of the PFDJ’s Central Council from 1994 until his detention in 2001. Hamid was reported dead from illness and heat exhaustion by alleged former prison guard Eyob Bahta.
Haile Woldense
Haile Woldense, born 1946, was one of the key ideological figures behind the EPLF. He dropped out of Addis Ababa University in 1966 to join the armed independence struggle.
During the war, Haile served on the EPLF’s Central Committee. He also headed the EPLF cadre school, which produced recruits for the Front. Post-independence, Haile became Minister of Finance and Development, before being appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1997. In this role, he signed the Algiers Agreement in 2000, bringing a formal end to the Eritrean-Ethiopian war.
In December 2000, Haile privately complained to President Isaias about his unwillingness to democratise, and was heavily reprimanded. Months later, he gave an interview in which he called for reforms.
According to unverified reports cited by Al Jazeera, the veteran school chief died in Eirairo prison in January 2018. Woldense’s younger brother Sengal Woldense told Voice of America he was “glad that (his brother and comrades were) not like those who are licking the boots of this regime, and we are glad that they are not part of a shameful history. So, they are our pride and honor.”
Ogbe Abraha
Ogbe Abraha, born 1948, joined the EPLF while studying at Addis Ababa University in 1972. Three years later, he became a member of the Front’s political bureau. Ogbe served as military commander between 1978-1984. Following independence, he served in a range of other roles, including member of the PFDJ’s Central Council, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare and Chief of Staff of the Eritrean Defence Forces.
In February 2000, Ogbe told the President that Eritrea needed “collaborative leadership”. A few months later, he was fired. Ogbe is thought to have died in 2002 at the maximum-security Embatkala prison, some time after attempting to take his own life.
Saleh Idris Kekya
A veteran of the independence war, Saleh Idris Kekya, born 1950, later served in various official roles, including Director of the Office of the President, Ambassador to Sudan, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Transport and Communication and Mayor of Assab, southern Eritrea, in 2000.
Saleh died from heat exhaustion in 2003, according to alleged former prison guard Eyob Bahta Habtenariam.
Germano Nati
Germano Nati, born 1946, was a prominent advocate for the Kunama people, a minority population in western Eritrea. He joined the EPLF in 1997 and was instrumental in mobilising Kunama people to join the war effort. Following independence he held a series of leading official positions, including Head of Social Affairs in the Southern Red Sea Region, member of the National Assembly and PFDJ Executive Committee, and administrator of the Gash-Setit Province.
“You stood firm when others buckled,” Nati’s son Yoni Germano said of his father’s perseverance and demands for democratic reform, in an open letter.
“Wherever I go, there you are! I remember you more fondly than ever now that my son is named after you; I see, like a shadow, following me everywhere. I realise you are just a human, mortal and of course, fallible like all of us. But I see in your spirit something I hope to see in myself. What I know is you are not going to be a forever-prisoner.”
Germano is believed to have died in prison in 2009.
Estifanos Seyoum
Estifanos Seyoum, born 1947, joined the EPLF in 1972, and went on to serve as a highly revered brigadier general during the independence war. Afterwards, he studied for a Masters degree in finance and economics at the US University of Wisconsin–Madison.
As well as serving as Finance Secretary and National Assembly member, Estifanos worked as head of the Eritrean Inland Revenue until 2001. He was fired from Inland Revenue after revealing to the public that PFDJ-owned businesses and senior party officials were evading income taxes.
His five children haven’t seen their father in over 19 years.
Beraki Gebreselassie
Passionate about schooling and young Eritreans, Beraki Gebreselassie, born 1946, co-founded and headed the EPLF’s educational department. After the war, he served as Minister of Education and Minister of Information and Culture. Beraki frequently found himself at odds with President Isaias, and vehemently opposed the government’s decision to shut down private media.
“I don’t want to be remembered as the minister who closed down the media and who jailed journalists,” Beraki said before his arrest.
His wife Mihret Ayob was a fellow revolutionary and one of 50 authors of the Eritrean Constitution. The last time she saw her husband was before he was detained in 2001. Mihret died on April 13, 2017.
Berhane Gebregziabeher
Berhane Gebregziabeher, born 1947, served as a member of the EPLF political bureau from 1977, and throughout the war. After independence, he took up the role of Major-General in the Army. Berhane also served as a provincial industry secretary, head of the National Reserve Force and member of the PFDJ’s Central Council.
In 2000, he was stripped of his military rank by the President, a year before his arrest.
The Journalists
Eritrea’s independence in 1993 heralded the birth of a flourishing media and press industry, with new domestic outlets covering everything from politics and literature to sports. This opened up the public sphere and laid the groundwork for what looked like a culturally prosperous future. Critical voices emerged, coming down hard on Eritrea’s high poverty rate, government interference in the education system, National Service conditions and the administration’s lack of transparency and democracy.
Following the border war with Ethiopia, the G-15 critics’ groundbreaking open letter to the government calling for democratic reforms was published in the independent press. Rising tensions between the media and government reached a climax on September 18, 2001, when the government announced a shutdown of all private media and began detaining the G-15.
Journalists were shaken by the crackdown and detentions. They demanded answers from the government. That’s when the regime turned its gaze to the journalists themselves, arresting ten of them in the days following the media shutdown. None of the ten were afforded a trial, or even a reason for their arrest. Six months on, the detained journalists staged a hunger strike, hoping to raise awareness of their plight. The government responded by sending them to various prison facilities across the country, where some remain, and some have been reported dead.
Seyoum Tsehaye
Seyoum Tsehaye, born 1952, was pivotal in the creation of Eritrea’s state broadcaster Eri-TV, and became its first director. Serving as a war photographer during the struggle for independence, he was asked by the EPLF to archive footage of the conflict that state television still uses today.
Seyoum was a critic from the outset. Even as the independence struggle raged, he emphasised the need to incorporate democratic norms into the movement. At one point during the war, he was imprisoned for a year without trial for challenging the EPLF.
Eventually, Seyoum’s outspoken nature led to his dismissal from Eri-TV, and demotion to a position within the Ministry of Tourism. He later turned to freelancing as a photographer and journalist, publishing several critical articles about the government in the independent paper Setit. As the G-15 released their letter, he wrote an article urging the government to communicate with the Eritrean people and encourage peace and justice.
Seyoum, who is married with two children, hasn’t been seen since 2001.
Dawit Isaak
Born in 1964, Dawit Isaak in his adult years became an icon for press freedom in both Eritrea and his second home, Sweden. At school, he enjoyed putting on plays, and later in life, he published a number of novels. He moved to Sweden in 1985 and gained citizenship in 1992, becoming active in the Eritrean diaspora. After independence, he returned to Asmara and started a family, took up writing again and rejoined the theatre. Alongside other journalists, Isaak co-founded Setit, which grew to become Eritrea’s largest independent newspaper.
Isaak’s fearless coverage of the G-15’s letter landed him in detention, in 2001. He has since received several awards, including UNESCO’s Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, the Golden Pen of Freedom award, the Kurt Tucholsky Prize, and the Anna Politkovskaya award.
Isaak was briefly released in 2005. Two days later he was re-arrested. In 2009, he was reportedly taken to hospital three times. Partially confirmed reports suggest he had been taken to the brutal Eiraeiro detention facility. In 2020, the Free Dawit Isaak association confirmed Isaak was still alive. His daughters, wife and brother continue to call for his release.
Medhanie Haile
Medhanie Haile was a steadfast believer in the rule of law, and wrote extensively about how it should be established in post-independence Eritrea. He worked as deputy editor of the private Keste-Demena newspaper, as well as a lawyer at the Ministry of Justice.
Samuel Bizen, chair of the Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights, told The Guardian that Medhanie “most importantly was concerned about the implementation of the new constitution ... and the free flow of information that empowers people and enables them to stand up for their rights.”
Medhanie was arrested and intimidated several times. Yet he always remained true to his belief in the rule of law. Poet Saba Kidane told The Guardian how Medhanie reacted upon hearing editors were leaving Eritrea following the government’s media crackdown: “We are in a country governed by the rule of law and we are asking for an explanation for these actions. We cannot flee in fear.”
Alleged former prison guard Eyob Bahta said Medhanie died from a lack of medical treatment in 2004. He is survived by four brothers.
Amanuel Asrat
Amanuel Asrat was a renowned poet, art critic, songwriter and editor of Zemen, a newspaper focusing on the arts and literature. Amanuel played a pivotal role in the creation of various grassroots writers’ clubs across the country, the most popular being “Saturday’s Supper.”
Zemen became the leading literary newspaper in the country, exerting a major influence on Eritrea’s cultural landscape. As a poet, Amanuel was unique in crafting poems on the darker side of war, in opposition to the national glorification of the Eritrean struggle.
The ugliness of the thing of war
When its spring comes
When its ravaging echoes knock at your door
It is then that the scourge of war brews doom
Amanuel’s The Scourge of War, translated by Tedros Abraham
Before his arrest, Amanuel planned to travel to South Africa to continue higher education.
Temesgen Ghebreyesus
Temesgen Ghebreyesus was the editor of Keste Debena’s sports section. In addition to his role as editor, he was also an actor, comedian and band leader. His arrest by authorities left his son without a present father.
Yosuf Mohamed Ali
Yosuf Mohamed Ali was a pioneering critic of the Eritrean government, as co-founder and editor-in-chief of the private Tsigenay newspaper. Crucially, he published an interview with former Vice President Mahmoud Ahmed Sherifo on the G-15’s open letter to Eritrea’s leadership. Ali’s work made him one of the first journalists to expose the government’s culture of silence and secrecy. He also covered an internal crisis within the PFDJ between reformists and conservatives, and advocated for implementation of the country's democratic constitution.
Yosuf died in 2003 from heat exhaustion, according to alleged former prison guard Eyob Bahta.
Dawit Habtemichael
Dawit Habtemichael was a teacher, journalist, and co-founder of the newspaper Meqaleh. Before Meqaleh, he worked at the newspaper Echo, where colleagues described him as an energetic and talented editor. He would put in long hours after his days at work as a physics teacher. Dawit co-founded Meqaleh in 1998 in a modest office, with one desktop computer, a printer, and a phone.
Alongside editing, he wrote articles holding power to account. His work was permeated by a sense that change was always possible. In his regular column “Never Too Late,” he shone a critical light on key issues facing Eritrea’s government and society, consistently stressing that things could be improved.
Dawit was arrested the day after the first round of journalist detentions. Security arrived at the secondary school he worked at and took him away. At the age of 30, he became one of the youngest journalists to be detained during the crackdown. Reporters Without Borders reports that he died in Eiraeiro in 2010, after a period of mental illness.
Mattewos Habteab
Mattewos Habteab was a journalist and mathematician who co-founded the Meqaleh newspaper in Eritrea. Mattewos was described by his peers as someone who spoke truth to power, never afraid to question authority. Mattewos died in the high-security Eiraeiro prison, according to alleged former guard Eyob Bahta Habtemariam.
Said Abdelkader
Said Abdelkader was a writer and editor of the Admas newspaper. During the independence war, there was little space for critical content, and the paper toed the government line on the conflict. As Admas increasingly aired dissent after the war, its contributors and editors started facing threats and arrests.
Abdelkader was arrested alongside his fellow journalists for reporting on the 2001 opposition crackdown. Alleged former Eiraeiro prison guard Eyob Bahta claimed Said killed himself in 2004.