Zemenfes Haile
Arrested: January 1999
Sometime in early 1999, Haile, founder and manager of the private weekly newspaper Tsigenay, was detained by Eritrean authorities and sent to Zara Labour Camp in the country’s lowland desert. Authorities accused Haile of failing to complete the National Service Program, but sources told CPJ that the journalist completed the program in 1994.

Near the end of 2000, Haile was transferred to an unknown location, and friends and relatives have not seen or heard from him since. According to Eritrean sources, in 2003, the government claimed that Haile was performing his national service requirement.

Ghebrehiwet Keleta
Arrested: July 2000
Keleta, a reporter for the private weekly newspaper Tsigenay, was kidnapped by security agents on his way to work sometime in July 2000 and has not been seen since. The reasons for Keleta’s arrest remain unclear, but CPJ sources in Eritrea believe that Keleta’s continued detention is part of the government’s general crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001.

Selamyinghes Beyene
Arrested: Fall 2001
Beyene, a reporter for the independent weekly Meqaleh, was arrested sometime in the fall of 2001 and has been missing since. CPJ was unable to confirm the reasons for his arrest, it is believed that that his detention is part of the government’s general crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001. According to Eritrean sources, in 2003, the government claimed that Beyene was performing his national service requirement.

Amanuel Asrat
Arrested: September 2001

Medhanie Haile
Arrested: September 18, 2001

Yusuf Mohamed Ali
Mattewos Habteab
Arrested: September 19, 2001

Temesken Ghebreyesus
Said Abdelkader
Arrested: September 20, 2001

Dawit Isaac
Seyoum Fsehaye
Arrested: September 21, 2001

Dawit Habtemichael
Arrested: on or about September 21, 2001

Fesshaye “Joshua” Yohannes
Arrested: September 27, 2001
Beginning September 18, 2001, Eritrean security forces arrested at least 10 local journalists. Two others fled the country. The arrests came less than a week after authorities abruptly closed all privately owned newspapers, allegedly to safeguard national unity in the face of growing political turmoil in the tiny Horn of Africa nation. CPJ sources in Asmara maintain that the suspension and subsequent arrests of independent journalists were part of a full-scale government effort to suppress political dissent in advance of December 2001 elections, which the government cancelled without explanation.

Hamid Mohammed Said
Saidia Ahmed
Saleh Aljezeeri
Arrested: February 15, 2002
During a July 2002 fact-finding mission to the capital, Asmara, CPJ delegates confirmed that around February 15, Eritrean authorities arrested Said, a journalist for the state-run Eritrean State Television (ETV); Ahmed, a journalist with the Arabic-language service of ETV; and Aljezeeri, a journalist for Eritrean State Radio. All three remained in government custody at the end of 2003. The reasons for their arrests are unclear, but CPJ sources in Eritrea believe that their continued detention is related to the government’s general crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001.

Aklilu Solomon
Arrested: July 8, 2003
On June 27, Solomon, stringer for the U.S. government-funded Voice of America (VOA) news service based in the capital, Asmara, was stripped of his press accreditation by Eritrean authorities after he reported on the families of soldiers who had died during Eritrea’s 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia. On July 8, Eritrean security officers arrested Solomon at his home and took him away to an undisclosed location. Government officials later said that Solomon had been taken to Sawa Military Training Camp to complete his mandatory national military service. According to the VOA, however, Solomon had documents proving that he had already completed a part of his service and was exempt from the rest for medical reasons. Eritrean authorities told the VOA that they were reviewing the documents in question.