Extract from Report on the State of human rights in Eritrea 2005 source: SUWERA CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Arbitrary Detentions: 1992 & 1995
The Eritrean government is carrying on wide spread arbitrary detentions since the liberation of the country in 1991. General Biteweded Abrha, a former Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front’s (EPLF) fighter, the organisation currently governing Eritrea, is detained without trial in a solitary cell since 1992. It is said that he has become mentally disturbed as the result of his long solitary confinement. Biteweded was charged with corruption but people who know the story say he was detained because of his open criticisms of the president of the state. The government had released him for a short period of time during the 1998 war with Ethiopia to detain him once again because he continued criticizing the president, Issayas Afewerki, openly. Because the authorities do not allow visits and the manner by which detentions take place, often during the nighttime to avoid presence of witnesses, it is difficult to differentiate between forceful disappearances and arbitrary detentions.
Detention of Islamists and Eritrean Liberation Front’s fighters:
After the break up of diplomatic relations with Sudan in 1994, the Eritrean security apparatus waged wide-ranging campaign of detentions among the Eritrean Moslems. It detained several hundreds individuals with the pretext of having contacts with the Islamic Jihad Movement. The majority of the detainees were teachers in religious colleges and employees of Islamic aid organisations. Ali Mohammed Musa, a member of an International aid organisation, was detained on 5 December 1995 and since his detention the authorities prevented his relatives from visiting him and did not expose the place where he is detained. In addition, the same authority detained Mohammed Saeed, a shop owner in Asmara, and many others with the pretext of having cooperated with the Islamic Jihad Movement.
In 1995 the security apparatus waged large scale campaigns of detentions against members of Eritrean Liberation Front, the organisation that started the armed struggle for liberation of Eritrea and its role diminished lately due to civil war with EPLF, which was supported by the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), the leading party in the coalition governing party in Ethiopia today. It is said that those individuals were detained under the pretext of their wrong doings during the struggle for national liberation in the sixties. Among the detainees are:
Mohammed Osman Dayr:- Detained on 25 May 1995. He left his hotel in Asmara during the night to buy things he needs and did not return back to his hotel. Dayr was a veteran who joined the ELF in 1964 to fight for the freedom of his country. He returned to Eritrea immediately after its liberation. He was suffering from diabetis and he was at the end of his fifties at the time of his detention. The authorities do not allow his relatives to visit him, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Mahmud Dinai:- He joined the ELF in the beginning of the sixties of the past century to fight for the freedom of his country. During the years of the formation of ELF military zones, he was appointed as commander of the first zone, representing Gash and Barka. He was detained on 10 October 1995 while he was serving as the president of Parliament in Gash-Barka zone. He was on his early sixties at the time of his detention. The authorities do not allow his relatives to visit him, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Suleiman Zekaria:- He was a fighter in the same zone where the above mentioned, Mahmud Dinai, was the commander. He was detained on 16 October 1995 and was in his sixties at that time of his detention. The authorities do not allow his relatives to visit him, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Within the framework of detentions of members of Eritrean Liberation Front-United Organisations (ELF-UO) and Eritrean Liberation Front-National Council (ELF-NC) the Eritrean authorities detained the following individuals:
Saleh Osman Arey: was a longtime fighter in ELF-NC and returned to Eritrea after independence. He was detained on 3 October 1995 in the town of Keren and he was in his forties at the time of his detention. His family is not allowed to visit him. His wife, residing in the Sudan, visited Eritrea three times with the intention of getting a chance to see her husband and contacted several officials to ask them to give her a chance but did not succeed. He has no yet appeared before the court.
Mohammed Khier Musa: a veteran member of the Eritrean Liberation Front-National Council (ELF-NC), was detained on 10 October 1995 in the town of Keren while serving as an official in the Labor Office in Anseba zone. He was on his late fifties at the time of his detention. The authorities do not allow members of his family to visit him, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim: a former fighter in Eritrean Liberation Front-Unified Organization (ELF-UO), was detained on 10 October 1995 in the town of Agordat while serving as a judge in Gash-Barka zonal court. He was in his early fifties at the time of his detention. The authorities do not allow visits by members of his family; his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Mohammed Saleh Mahmud: a former fighter in ELF-UO, joined the revolution at the end of the seventies. He was detained on 10 October 1995 in the town of Agordat while serving as a judge in Gash_barka zonal court. The authorities do not allow visits by members of his family, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Mahmud Khaled: former fighter in ELF, was detained on 10 October 1995 in the town of Agordat while serving as employee in the town’s municipality. The authorities do not allow visits by members of his family; his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Alamin Hamed Kerar: the director of a cooperative in Gash-Barka zone, was detained on 10 October 1995. The authorities do not allow visits by members of his family; his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Mohammed Idris Abu Ajaj: a veteran of the Eritrean revolution, joined the ELF on early sixties. He was detained on 10 October 1995 in the town of Agordat and was on his early sixties during the time of his detention. The authorities do not allow visits by members of his family, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Mohammed Ali Ibrahim: a veteran fighter for freedom, was detained on 10 October 1995. The authorities do not allow visits by members of his family, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Ismail Idris Kerkas: former fighter in ELF-NC, returned to Eritrea after independence. He was detained at the end of November 1995. The authorities do not allow visits by members of his family, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Idris Dynai: joined the ELF in the eighties. He returned to Eritrea after independence and was detained at the end of November 1995. He was on his thirties at the time of his detention. The authorities do not allow him visits, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
Mohammed Banni: a former fighter in ELF, was detained in 1996 in the town of Senafe. The authorities do not allow visit by members of his family, his where about is not known and has not appeared before the court.
The detentions of hundreds of Eritreans continued throughout the nineties of the past century and its main targets were members of ELF and the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement. One could say that none of the detained members of these two organisations were set free. There are unconfirmed reports of 150 of these detainees being executed.