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Reporters Without Borders

Update

21 February 2007

ERITREA

Three public media journalists arrested in November are freed but  

kept under surveillance

Reporters Without Borders has learned that three Eritrean state media  

journalists were recently released after being held for several weeks  

at police station No. 5 in the capital, Asmara, but a fourth is still  

being held.

Those freed were Temesghen Abay of Radio Dimtsi Hafash’s Tigrinya- 

language service, Getachew Asfaha of Eri-TV’s Amharic-language  

service and Asmerom Berhe of Eri-TV’s Tigrinya-language service.  

Getachew Asfaha was freed on 16 February. The exact date of the  

release of Temesghen Abay and Asmerom Berhe is not known.

They were detained in the course of a wave of arrests of public media  

journalists launched on 12 November following the defection of  

several prominent journalists, which had particularly irked the  

government. They appear to have been suspected of staying in contact  

with the defectors or of planning to flee the country themselves

In all, nine state media journalists have been arrested and then  

released on bail, one after another. Since their release, they have  

been followed, their phones have been tapped, they have been forced  

to go back to work and they have been expressly forbidden to leave  

Asmara.