The deaths of three more journalists have been reported at the notorious and isolated prison camp of Eiraeiro in north-eastern Eritrea.

Eiraeiro is where senior political figures who criticized President Isaias have been detained in solitary confinement without charge or trial since September 2001.

A number have died under the appalling conditions at the prison. “Eiraeiro is not a prison, it is a death camp" said Reporters Without Borders which first revealed details about conditions there in January 2008, quoting statements made by former prison guards.

Now Reporters Without Borders says it has learnt from prison guards who have fled from Eiraeiro and from other sources that Dawit Habtemichael, Mattewos Habteab and Wedi Itay, all detained since September 2001, have died.

Dawit Habtemichael was the deputy editor and co-founder of the biweekly Meqaleh. Aged 30 at the time of his arrest, he was one of the youngest of the Eritrean journalists to be detained, but his mental health began to deteriorate five years ago and in 2007, he became schizophrenic. Failure to treat his illness is thought to have been the cause of his death in the second half of 2010.

Mattewos Habteab was held for a time in a prison in the Dahlak Archipelago but was subsequently brought back to Eiraeiro, and succumbed to ill-treatment there.

Sahle Tsegazab, or Wedi Itay, was a freelance journalist and writer who often worked for privately-owned newspapers. He died from an illness and lack of medical treatment.

Four other journalists arrested in 2001, Medhanie Haile, Yusuf Mohamed Ali, Said Abdulkader and Fessehaye "Joshua" Yohannes, have also died in detention.

Only four members of the group of journalists arrested in September/October 2001, Dawit Isaac, Seyoum Tsehaye, Amanuel Asrat and Temesgen Gebreyesus, are still believed alive.

Another group of journalists working for the Eritrean state media were arrested in 2009; most are held at Adi Abeito military prison, though others have been moved elsewhere.

All have been subject to various forms of torture and mistreatment including electric shock, beatings and solitary confinement; food is sometimes withheld and they are denied medical care. They are allowed no visits; and at least one is believed to have died.

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*Originally published on A Week in the Horn – Sept. 7, 2012, titled “Three more journalists reportedly die in an Eritrean prison”.

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