By Alem Yohannes (4/10/2002)

In part one of  "Our Memories of Our Prison and the 1975 Operation Sembel in Asmara" I narrated about how and why Sembel Detention Center was built and the inmate population at that time. I also stated that the majority of the detainees were political prisoners and an operation by the Eritrean Liberation Front in collaboration with the police guard to release them was about to begin.

In the next part (Part Two) I am going to tell you about the personalities of the individual political figures and the significance of their imprisonment and the role-played by each one of them. In addition I will try to address how the inmates as individuals impacted our revolution at different stages of the struggle. Please bear with me I will not bore you.

WHO WERE THE DETAINEES?

The prisoners of Sembel were proud Eritreans from all walks of life.  They were students, teachers, businessmen, and members of the revolutionary army, peasants, and other professionals.  Each one of them had something in common embedded deep in their inner consciousness, the love for their country.  Each one of the political prisoners had to go through tough punishment and torture during interrogations.  The interrogators wanted to know how and where and with whom and at what level each one supported or contributed towards the freedom of Eritrea.  In order to get such information the interrogators resorted to severe torture.  The torture always started around mid night, the best time when one is vulnerable both mentally and physically.  A gang of four or five escorts the individual to the interrogation room.  Some of the common tortures that were used by the interrogators were one is handcuffed and immersed in a barrel of dirty water head down until one is really suffocated to near death.  Handcuffed and the legs are tied to a high pole and the body is suspended down and slashing the back with rough wires, beating the bottom feet with wires, electric shock … and so son.  Did I say extinguishing cigarette buffs on one’s face?  One is pressured to the brink of collapse to disclose about any thing related to the revolution such as material, financial, moral support, etc to the Eritrean revolution.  One is returned from the interrogation room almost dead and unable to walk, dragged out from the vehicle on both hands and legs and is thrown into the prison cell until the second round comes.  The tough gangs were not able to elicit the confession they wanted from the political prisoners regardless of the intensity and duration of torture.  The prisoners coach and train one another to build up endurance and to perjure to protect their revolution and submission and confession were not in their vocabulary.

To name a few of the political detainees of Sembel:

Embaye Hidru and his group (with two dedicated Eritreans) were imprisoned in 1963.  They were conducting covert missions to supply arms to ELA  (Eritrean Liberation Army) from its inception that was bought from Addis Ababa.  They were apprehended and sentenced to life in jail for helping the revolution with arms by buying and transporting smuggled weapons.  Later through an intermediary, King Hailesselasie agreed to grant them amnesty and to walk out from the prison with a condition to denounce their convictions and abandon the Eritrean freedom and to request mercy from his majesty for their alleged crime.  They rejected the offer and elected to stay in prison for the rest of their lives than to give up their conviction that Eritrea and its people should be free.  They said thanks but no thanks, as Eritreans, what we did was not a crime and exercising our God given rights should not be a punishable offense.  Later when asked Embaye said, "We wanted to send a message to the Eritrean people that our sacrifice is like an indistinguishable torch that would fuel the struggle for freedom until victory and to the Ethiopian government we wanted to tell them that Eritreans are committed to their country and its freedom should not be compromised".

After their release from prison, Embaye and his two friends joined the revolution and fought for independence until an EPLF and TPLF military conspiracy drove out ELF to the Sudan.  Embaye lived in Kassala, Sudan until independence and then returned to Eritrea and started a small business in Gognie, a small town in Gash.  During the recent Ethiopian aggression, PFDJ thugs revoked his license, confiscated his business, and he is laughing in jail without due process for unsubstantiated accusation for collaborating with the Eritrean Opposition Forces.

Tegadalai Omer.  He was an  ELF fighter assigned to urban military operations who shot and killed the Ethiopian general near a hospital in Asmara in 1973.  (Near Itege Menen hospital at that time). He attempted to flee by biking but unfortunately, he was apprehended.

Martyr Woldedawit Temesgen ELA fighter who was captured while organizing clandestine cells in Eritrean and Ethiopian urban cities. After his release he served the nation at different capacities including but not limited to zonal administrator, brigade commander and military division officer. After all the hardships fighting the enemy  he was gunned down by a silencer gun shot in Kessela, Sudan by PGDJ  security agents.

Gebrezgiabiher Tewolde later became ELA fighter who was arrested while executing a mission leading his clandestine cell in Asmara.  He is remembered because of his courageous step that he executed a mission along with his cell members but declared he did it himself.  When he and his group were exposed and imprisoned, he came forward and told his captors that he executed the mission solo and none of his cell members participated in that mission.  Deceived by his boldness the Ethiopian interrogators did not seek for alibi and released the group from prison and he himself shouldered the entire burden to tactically free his group. He also served the revolution at different capacities from a political commissioner to a foreign office representative .

Haile DeruE  (Ex-Foreign Minister (G-15) a signatory of the open letter to the president who is now in custody. He served as the head of the political school, foreign minister and the minister of mining and industry. Since September 18, 2001 his boss for attempting to reform the PFDJ jails him.   

Memhir Tecle EPLF fighter who was captured by the enemy and later he was killed by EPLF for mere expression of his views and happen to be different from EPLF's norms that did not tolerate any other views.

Teclehaimanot EPLF fighter who was captured along with Haile DeruE.  Teklehaimanot was a bus driver of SATAE (Asmara Addis Ababa line)

Amare (forgot his last name) was a clandestine fighter of the secret cells of ELF who forwarded a blue print of Asmara Air Port and the air force base to ELA with a plan to destroy all the bomber planes and the arsenal of ammunition of the Ethiopian Air Force Base.  After his arrest, this mission could not materialized.  However, for those of you who did not know Ethiopia ordered its pilots not to stage its fighter planes over night in Asmara but Debrezeit, the southern part of Ethiopia.  Since that time the bombers had to fly from Debrezeit every day and then refuel in Asmara before they bound to bomb our villages.  This was very significant in limiting their ability to launch as many sorties and was a financial drain to Ethiopia.  It must be noted also some time in the summer of 1976 the ELA launched Katyusha bombs from the outskirts of the airport and destroyed some parts of the air force base. 

Amare was arrested with forensic evidence to destroy the air force base in Asmara. He was sentenced for seven years. When he was arrested with of draft of his blue prints to destroy the air force base, his interrogators asked him why he did what he did.  He said he wanted to retaliate on behalf of the victims of Om-Hager incident of July 1974 where about 700 innocent civilians were massacred and drowned into the Bademit River, a tributary of Tekkeze River by the brutal Tor Serawit. Through his brother, (his brother was a commander in the Ethiopian navy) a deal was made with the Police Colonel of Asmara to grant him mercy on condition if Amare denied to what he had done.  Amare rejected the deal and opted to stay behind bars to let the Ethiopian government learn a lesson that the Eritrean people are willing to pay their most precious lives for the sake of their motherland.  Some of us advised him to accept the offer and to join ELA after his release and that would be a better contribution to our nation than languishing in jail time.  Amare was so determined that doing so was a cowardice signal to the Ethiopians and that should not be the characteristics of an Eritrean man.  He was getting married to his nurse fiancé in January 1975 and told her while she was crying and begging him to comply to his conditional release from prison from the other side of the fence that their wedding should be cancelled and he did not want to start a family of his own unless every Eritrean is free to exercise his/her freedom.

Haile Uwur (Haile the Blind) Legally blind person who composed and produced the popular political play that was shown in Cinema Asmara that encouraged many young Eritreans to join the revolution. Many of those who were key characters of the play joined ELF after his arrest.

Tecle Kidane was one of the leaders of one of the ELF cells operating inside Asmara.  Besides his assigned duties, he also helped the urban ELA guerillas with food and shelter and provided transportation when needed.  He was arrested when Woldemicahel Abraha, one of the ELA urban guerillas, whom he worked with closely, was arrested. The police secret agents knew about them when Gebremichael defected from ELA and cooperated with secret police agents in exposing ELF’s secret cells in the towns of Adi Keih, Decamare, Asmara and Keren.  It was unheard of that any one who defected for what ever reason, to expose others to damage the revolution.  It was assumed that he was a double agent of the Ethiopouan rigime determined to  foil  ELF’s operations in the urban areas. Gebremichael is the brother of Hagos Kisha the finance minister of the PFDJ.  Tekle was my close friend in prison.  He is the only son to his parents and had two kids less than five years old.  He was the breadwinner for his family and supported his parents.  What is ironic about this individual is that he has been a freedom fighter since his release from prison until independence.  The 1991 PIA’s lengthy diatribe of his freedom speech that was very detrimental towards reconciliation and nation building that warranted havoc and destruction the omnipotent declared that it was a crime if one had been fighting for other than EPLF.  Tekle and his comrades had no other choice but to continue their struggle until the liberation of every Eritrean is achieved. In 1993, Isayas conspired with the Sudan and decimated the ELA units in Gash and Barka and they had to flee to Ethiopia.  When Eritrea and Ethiopia signed an agreement for cooperation Isayas demanded that Tekle and his group to be expatriated to Eritrea. In response to that demand, Ethiopia imprisoned twenty-six ELF leaders and senior cadres with the objective to hand them over to Eritrea as criminals.  Due to the pressure excreted by the international community including but not limited to the Amnesty International, UNHCR, and after two years of imprisonment, Ethiopia had to relinquish them and Tekle and his comrades have been granted political asylum in Europe, Australia and the USA. Therefore, Tekle had been imprisoned twice, once by Ethiopia and the second time by the government of his own nation that he fought to liberate. For that matter he is not alone; there are thousands like him suffering in the dungeons of PFDJ without due process even as we speak.

In addition, there were so many others that I cannot remember their names that set the benchmark for struggle for the freedom of Eritrea. It is imperative to remember all heroic fighters and their accomplishments because it is the sum total of their contributions that the Eritrean freedom became a reality.  

To be Continued