Swedish-Eritrean journalist alive after 18 years in Eritrean jail

Company Reporter

The eldest daughter of the jailed Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, Bethlehem Isaak, who had been imprisoned in Eritrea with out trial for 18 years, on Monday stated her father was nonetheless alive.

“My dad remains to be alive. Possibly you suppose how I do know. That is the place silent diplomacy is available in. I can’t and I’m not allowed to say extra,”Isaak stated.

She was talking on Summer season, a well-liked annual radio programme, the place individuals within the information are invited to fill the airwaves with their very own contributions and music.

“It’s the mixture of labor that exists across the International Ministry’s items, the one which handles cooperation with different international locations, on this case not least hyperlinks with Eritrea, voluntary organisations and call with the household.

“It’s known as silent diplomacy since you can’t or allowed to speak about what’s going on to the skin world,” She stated.

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Dawit Isaak, 55, was arrested in September 2001, amid a clampdown by authorities on unbiased newspapers and labelled a traitor. Little has been heard from him since.

Earlier, the chairman of a committee searching for Isaak’s launch, Leif Obrink, additionally acknowledged that Isaak was alive.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, the data is a 10,“he stated.

Isaak sought asylum in Sweden in 1987 and have become a citizen in 1992. About eight years later he returned to Eritrea to work for the unbiased weekly Setit.

Eritrea usually ranks on the backside of the annual World Press Freedom Index compiled by the campaigning organisation reporters with out Borders.

(dpa/NAN)