Eritrea - Annual Report 2008
Reporters without borders (press release), France - February 22, 2008
... Paulos Kidane was one of the most popular journalists in Asmara but he chose to leave the country after he was arrested along with eight other state media staff from 12 November 2006 onwards after public defections by several other renowned journalists. The authorities arrested them because they were suspected of still being in touch with the fugitives or of planning to leave themselves. After his release he told Reporters Without Borders that he had and his colleagues had been “beaten and tortured in prison after refusing to give the passwords for our emails”. “We finally cracked because the pain was too much,” he added. After their release on bail the “November prisoners” were followed and their phones tapped. They were forced to go back to work and were banned from leaving Asmara. Out of the nine journalists arrested, only seven were later freed. A young woman presenter on the Arabic service of Eri-TV, Fethia Khaled, was reportedly conscripted into the army, while Daniel Mussie, of the Oromo service of Dimtsi Hafash never left prison ...