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A speech by Senait Yohannes...

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Home About Meseley ዜና Articles ድምጺ መሰልና ደሊና Multimedia Downloads
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ድኽነትሲ ይብዳህ Eዩ፡ ኣተሓሳስባ Eዩ Eቲ ፈልሲ፡
ፊቅሪ Eንድዩ ሕመረቱ፡ መሪር ናይ ምንባር ቃልሲ፡
ኣየወ ነዚ ጽባሕ ሓመድ ዝበልO ነብሲ……
 
ኣተሓሳስባና Eንተሃብቲሙ፡ ዎዮ ድኽነትና ሽU Eዩ
ኣኽቲሙ!!!!
A speech by Senait
Yohannes
Written by Staff   
Friday, 01 August 2008 00:00
A speech presented by Senait
Yohannes to the a panel discussion
held in the United Nations Head
Quarters in New York City  on the
24th of July 2008 with the theme
“Declaration of Prisoners of
Conscience” in which more than 100
diplomats, representatives of
nongovernmental organizations and
journalists participated
I  want  to  thank  the  United  States
Mission to the United Nations and the
United States Department of State for
inviting me to be part  of  a panel of
speakers  to  commemorate  the
Declaration  of  Prisoners  of
Conscience.
I’m  particularly  proud  to  be  among
these  people  who  have  shown
courage  in  speaking  out  against
injustices and for their tireless efforts
on behalf of prisoners of conscience
in their respective countries.
I’m very pleased to be here to speak
about the plight of the many Eritrean
prisoners  of  conscience  who  are
languishing  in  the  dungeons  of  the
regime  in Asmara  –  particularly,  on
ነፍስ-ወከፍ ጸጋ ከይትባኽን
ዘዝበርሀት ሽምዓ ከትቕህም
ዘዝቦቖለት ተኽሊ ከትኹምርር
ዘዝነቀለት ክንቲት ከይትዳኸም
ንላዘብ ዶ ኣሎና ንመኻኸር
ንሰምር ዶ ኣሎና ንተሓናገር
ኣተሓሳስባና Eንተሃብቲሙ
ወዮ ድኽነትና ሽU Eዩ ኣኽቲሙ!!!!
A speech by Senait Yohannes - Flash Player Inst - Flash Player Installation http ://meseley.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71:s...
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behalf of my sister, Aster Yohannes
and her husband, Petros Solomon.
But I’m equally saddened to be here,
I wish there was no reason for me to
be  in  this  position.  After  so  many
sacrifices  for  the  independence  of
Eritrea  -  for  freedom,  justice  and
self-determination, our country should
have  been  a  place  blessed  with
liberty,  justice  and  rule  of  law  that
every citizen enjoyed. Unfortunately, it
has become a big jail where people
who  contributed  enormously  for  its
liberation are now denied basic right –
even a day in court or visitation rights.
The  tragedy  that  afflicts  Eritrea  is
beyond anybody’s imagination.
My  sister,  Aster  Yohannes  was
detained  by  security  forces  on
December  11,  2003  from  Asmara
airport upon here return home to be
with her children after three years of
study  in  the  USA.  She  has  been
detained in solitary confinement, and
to-date she has not been allowed any
visits  from  her  children  or  family
members.  The  Eritrean Government
has not charged Aster with any crime
nor have they provided any reason for
her  continous detention.  Aster’s only
crime is being the wife former Foreign
Minister and Prisoner  of  Conscience
Petros Solomon.
Since  its  independence  in  1991,
Eritrea is being ruled by an unelected
party that has a complete monopoly
of economic, political and social life in
the country. The group known as the
G15,  of  which Aster’s husband,  Mr.
Petros  Solomon,  was  a  member,
challenged the ruling party and called
for  democratic  reforms  and
demanded the implementation of the
constitution that was ratified in 1997.
By  imprisoning  G15,  who  included
prominent  leaders  of  Eritrea,  the
regime  completely  eradicated  any
meaningful voice of dissent inside the
cou n try. Th e regim e is h ostile to th e
idea of democracy and rule of law.
The regime has criminalized dissent in
Eritrea; it has closed down all private
media  and  imprisoned  journalists.
O n e o f t h o s e j o u r n a l i s t s w h o h a v e
been  languishing  in  prison  since
September  2001  is  Amanuel  Asrat.
Amanuel  is  a  high  schoolmate  of
mine.  He  was  top  of  his  school
student.  Amanuel fought  for  Eritrean
A speech by Senait Yohannes - Flash Player Inst - Flash Player Installation http ://meseley.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71:s...
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independence  and  he  is  very  gifted
writer  and journalist.  No one knows
his whereabouts for the last 7 years.
With  the  exception  of  opposition
voices outside the country, there is no
one  advocating  for  the  rights  of
prisoners of conscience in Eritrea. It
is  imperative  that  the  international
community  pressure  the  Eritrean
government to abide by international
n orms. The voice of the in tern ational
community is critically important in the
case of Eritrea.
I  appeal  to  the  United  Nations  to
apply pressure to the Eritrean regime
to free all prisoners of conscience.
I  also  appeal  to  all  UN  Member
States and Organization to take the
following  steps  to  assist  political
prisoners and their family members:
·         To put  diplomatic  pressure
to  Eritrea  to  abide  by
international rules.
·         To  make  aid  funds
conditional  on  the  state  of
human rights in Eritrea.
·         Adopt  a travel ban against
the top officials of the regime
from traveling.
·         Support  Eritrean civic  and
media organizations that  are
fighting on behalf of prisoners
of  conscience,  justice  and
democracy.
·         Support  legal  programs  to
help  families/victims  of
prosecution  to  pursue  legal
actions  against  the  Eritrean
regime.
·         Find ways to assist families
whose  bread  earners  are
jailed.
·         There  are  many  Eritreans
that  are  risking  their  life  to
cross  the  border  (cross  the
border  is  subject  to  death
penalty- shooting squad) and
seeking  refugees  in
neighboring countries.  These
refugees are in dire need of
assistance  such  as  food,
clothing  and  other  basic
necessities.
·         Find way to give the youth in
A speech by Senait Yohannes - Flash Player Inst - Flash Player Installation http ://meseley.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71:s...
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Comments (4)
friend
Wednesday, 22 April 2009 01:28
(haile) said:
release them
Saturday, 28 March 2009 03:41
(M.A) said:
mesel hizib
Sunday, 22 March 2009 17:29
(samuel erisydney) said:
TEACHER
Thursday, 19 March 2009 18:26
(awet) said:
the refugee camps in Ethiopia
and Sudan an opportunity to
have  a  decent  life  through
education,  job  training  and
resettlement programs.
The UN is the main organization that
has  a moral and  legal obligation to
address  the  plight  of  Eritrean
prisoners.  Eritrean  prisoners  of
conscience,  some  of  whom  have
been languishing in jail for more than
a decade,  must  not  be  forgotten.  I
plead to the UN to use all available
resources  to  help  these  voiceless
prisoners.
Finally, I urge the UN to demand the
Eritrean regime to allow the ICRC to
visit  the  Prisoners  of  conscience  in
Eritrea  and  report  on their  general
conditions  and  ascertain if  they  are
still alive. Rumors are abound stating
that some of the prisoners might be
dead.  With no  visitation rights  –  or
any  sort  of  communication  –the
families  of  prisoners  are  living  in a
never-ending  state  of  anxiety.  Only
the  ICRC  can  determine  the
prisoners’ state.
Last Updated on Saturday, 20
December 2008 00:51
 
you are the angel for eritrean
people thank's alot God
bless u and be with u
Fight a good fight
thank sis
Y
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