Editorial reading collection · 5 sources
Reading prison accounts and records
Five starting points put first-person narration, reporting, a reference compilation and a report excerpt beside an account of family disappearance. Read the source notes to distinguish an individual recollection from reporting or a compiled reference.
How do personal accounts, reporting and compiled references document detention differently?
Read the sources
The introductions and selection notes below are editorial. Labelled excerpts retain the wording of their sources.
Eritrea: Reliable news, analysis & information by awate - Testimony of Gelalo Prisoners
Source date: Aug 26, 2005
Why start here A first-person account of detention after deportation, presented anonymously in the source.
Sources and originals for Eritrea: Reliable news, analysis & information by awate - Testimony of Gelalo PrisonersI am one of the Eritreans who was deported from Malta in September 2002. After I, and those who were deported with me, endured unbearable pain and agony in the prisons of Adi Abeito and Dahlak, we were…
Source excerptSurvivors of the Eritrean Gulag
Date not recorded in metadata
Why start here Reporting connects former detainees’ accounts with refugee life in Switzerland.
Sources and originals for Survivors of the Eritrean GulagSince 2007, Eritrean refugees occupy the top list of asylum seekers in Switzerland. In 2011 alone, 3,356 Eritreans arrived in Switzerland seeking asylum. Behind their quiet life in peaceful Switzerland lies a…
Source excerptPlaces of detention in Eritrea
Date not recorded in metadata
Why start here A place-by-place compilation whose entries retain references to earlier reports.
Sources and originals for Places of detention in EritreaAdi Abeto army prison near Asmara. Incident of 4 November 2004, where prisoners were killed trying to escape after a wall was pushed over. (AI 2005) [5a]; (USSD report for 2004) [4e] (p1-2) AI reported that…
Source excerptTorture and Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment
Date not recorded in metadata
Why start here An excerpt identifying its parent report, with interview references and footnotes.
Sources and originals for Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading TreatmentExcerpts from State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea The internationally accepted definition of torture includes any act that involves the intentional infliction of severe mental or physical…
Source excerptTragic Tales Of Eritrean Families: Mohammed Said Abdella
Date not recorded in metadata
Why start here A journalist reflects on disappearance and its effects on families.
Sources and originals for Tragic Tales Of Eritrean Families: Mohammed Said AbdellaOne thing that greatly disturbed and puzzled me in my life as a journalist in Eritrea was the case of Eritreans who disappeared; those who went into thin air—guday dehay zeybelom sebat. I am still asking…
Source excerpt