Eritrea: Dawit Isaak and the Failure of Silent Diplomacy - in Conversation With Björn Tunbäck

interview

Dawit Isaak, a Swedish and Eritrean citizen, is a journalist and one of the founders of Setit, Eritrea's first independent newspaper. Following Setit's publication of an open letter calling for the implementation of the new constitution and elections, Dawit was arrested with ten other journalists in September 2001. He was unexpectedly released for medical treatment in 2005, but was quickly re-arrested and has been held incommunicado ever since. Björn Tunbäck of Reporters Without Borders (Sweden) and Swedish PEN has been involved in the campaign for Dawit's release from the start. He told Cathal Sheerin about the campaign in Sweden and what states and intergovernmental organisations could be doing, but aren't.

What do we know about Dawit's current condition?

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