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Eritrea: New Revelations About Eiraeiro Prison Camp - 'The Journalist Seyoum Tsehaye is in Cell No. 10 of Block A01'
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Reporters sans Frontières (Paris)
30 January 2008
Posted to the web 30 January 2008
Independent journalist Seyoum Tsehaye, the most recent winner of the Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France press freedom prize, is still alive and is being held in a secret prison camp called "Eiraeiro," located near the village of Gahtelay in a mountainous desert region north of the Asmara-Massawa road. Seyoum is in cell No. 10 of block A01, which is reserved for the most sensitive political prisoners.
Reporters Without Borders learned this and other details this month from an Eritrean who has had access to the prison, where many political leaders are held. The source must remain anonymous for his protection.
According to this source, Seyoum was transferred to Eiraeiro in about 2003. He was seen being beaten by guards a year or two after arriving in the camp. Very agitated, with his head shaved and a long beard, he rebelled several times against the guards in charge of him, refusing the prison food and repeating : "I did my duty," "it is my responsibility" and "I don't care if I die here."
Head of public television immediately after independence, Seyoum subsequently went back to being a freelance photographer and filmmaker. He and around 10 newspaper publishers and editors were arrested in the course of a round-up ordered by President Issaias Afeworki and his aides in September 2001 after several leading members of the ruling party (the only one permitted) and the military had publicly called for democratic reforms.
He went missing within the Eritrean prison system in April 2002, when the authorities transferred him and several other prisoners of conscience led by Fessehaye "Joshua" Yohannes to secret locations in order to conceal the hunger strike they had begun with the aim of pressing their demand to be taken before a court.
The Reporters Without Borders source described this high-security prison complex in detail, how it operates and the conditions in which the detainees are held. Some initial information about the camp was published in 2006 in a report compiled by the Ethiopian intelligence services. But it consisted of second-hand information. This report summarizes the information provided by a first-hand witness directly to Reporters Without Borders. It confirms the initial information published about this prison, which is described as "not the worst of Eritrea's prisons."
Access
Detainees are blindfolded when they are taken in 4WD vehicles to Eiraeiro, located a few kilometres from the village of Gahtelay in Northern Red Sea province, in a region where the temperature can fluctuate from 40 Celsius by day to several degrees below zero at night. After Filfil, a new road leads into a mountainous area where there used to be a coffee plantation. After about 45 minutes, the road is blocked by an initial checkpoint manned by several guards. No one is let through without a laissez-passer stamped by the president's office. The guard in charge must telephone the camp administrator and have the vehicle searched before allowing the prisoner and his escort to continue on their way to the place identified as "hill 346" on the military high command's maps.
Since 2005, the special units in charge of guarding the camp have worn beige camouflage uniforms and caps. Previously they wore the sand-coloured uniform called Milano, which the Eritrean independence fighters used to wear. They are armed with AK-47 assault rifles and clubs. Before taking up the post, they must swear an oath pledging never to reveal anything about Eiraeiro.
About one kilometre after the barrier are the barracks of Eiraeiro's guards, then the outer perimeter of the camp itself, delineated by barbed wire on this side and by a minefield on the north side of the camp. After this second checkpoint, the prisoners are taken to the administrator's office in an L-shaped building on the edge of the complex. This building also houses a bakery, a medical post, a pharmacy and a bedroom for senior officials from Asmara such as President Issaias himself.
The prisoners are taken before the camp administrator, Lt. Col. Isaac Araia, also known as "Wedi Hakim." They and their escorts - and even official visitors who come from Asmara to interrogate a detainee - must empty their pockets and leave behind any pieces of paper or pencils they may have brought with them. The administrator checks the laissez-passer and visit schedule in a room with two surveillance cameras. He makes the prisoners sign a form that identifies them by name and he gives them a uniform consisting of a blue shirt and trousers, together with military blankets and a sleeping mat.
An African gulag
Barefoot, under escort and strictly forbidden to talk to, or even look at, the other detainees or guards they pass on the way, the prisoners enter the camp proper, which is surrounded by a four-metre-high wall and are taken to one of the three buildings that hold the cells.
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On a flat area below the administration building, the prison camp is an E-shaped complex of three cement buildings, each containing a total of 64 separate cells separated by thick walls. Each wing is identified by a letter and a number. The three sections holding the most politically sensitive detainees, including the journalists, are A01, B01 and B03.
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