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Dawit Isaak, a journalist with Swedish and Eritrean dual nationality who used to work for the Eritrean newspaper Setit in Asmara, is spending his 5,000th day in prison today. He has never been sentenced or even charged.

And he is not alone. Other journalists such as Seyoum Tsehaye, Temesgen Gebreyesus and Emanuel Asrat were also arrested in September 2001, when the government closed all independent media in Eritrea. More have been arrested since then. A total of seven Eritrean journalists have died in prison.

This makes Eritrea Africa’s largest prison for media personnel. It has been at the very bottom of the Reporters Without Border press freedom index for the past seven years.

“The international community must confront the Eritrean government,” said Clea Kahn-Sriber, head of the Reporters Without Borders Africa desk. “It is unacceptable that the European Union, a union based on respect for democratic values, supports this regime and tolerates its awful human rights record.”

In Sweden, Isaak’s European home country, many events are being organized today to mark this sad anniversary.

Isaak’s eldest daughter, Bethlehem Isaak, has spent the night in a mock-up of the completely dark cell in which the authorities are believed to be holding him.

In an op-ed published today in Sweden’s biggest morning paper, Dagens Nyheter, the Swedish section of Reporters Without Borders has criticized EU plans to triple aid to Eritrea despite its shocking human rights record.

Read the op-ed (in Swedish) here

Drafted with the support of the Kampala-based East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, it accuses Asmara of reaching outside the country in its determination to suppress freedom of expression. Eritrean journalists who have fled to nearby Uganda and Sudan continue to be persecuted by Eritrean government agents. Eritrean exiles have been threatened and even beaten up government supporters in Sweden and Italy for criticizing the regime.

This evening, a broad coalition of Swedish civil society groups, including the Swedish section of Reporters Without Borders, is organizing a public gathering in Stockholm that aims to attract at least 5,000 participants to draw attention to the magnitude of the 5,000 days that Isaak has been unlawfully detained.

Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak has soon been detained for 5,000 days.

Now urges MEP Lars Adaktusson KD, EU to increase pressure on the Eritrean regime.

– It is silence that the regime wants to see in this case – because it is very important that we recall the terrible things that happened Dawit says Lars Adaktusson.

When Parliament debated the Union’s development aid to Eritrea on Wednesday evening took Lars Adaktusson also to remind the Swede imprisoned Dawit Isaak – and that on Tuesday of next week has been 5,000 days since he was arrested and imprisoned in Asmara.

– I think it has been a period of relative silence, both media and political, and I think it is important to keep up the pressure on the Eritrean regime in this important case, and this is a good time, says Lars Adaktusson.

Open letter

He has also written an open letter to the EU’s two top executives, Jean-Claude Juncker and Federika Mogherini where he makes a wish for the EU to increase the pressure on Eritrea.

The letter went on Wednesday to all Swedish MEP with the hope that everyone signs.

– I have received very positive reactions so far, so I have every reason to believe that there will be broad support, says Lars Adaktusson.

He wants the EU to focus its diplomatic and economic sanctions against the Eritrean government representatives, prevent Eritrean embassies in the EU can enforce the illegal collection of taxes that exist today and sharpness counterclaims that the country follows the human rights to receive assistance.

”I hope the regime will soon be gone”

The letter should be handed over to Mr Juncker and Mogherini on Tuesday June 2nd.

– The concrete proposals which, I emphasize, I think are requirements that we need to operate from the Swedish side but also from Europe, says Lars Adaktusson.

He has been involved in the case of Dawit Isaak, for many years, and did during his time as a journalist for a trip to Eritrea, where he interviewed the country’s president Isaias Afwerki. After that he is not welcome back to the country.

– I sincerely hope that this regime will soon be gone, it would be the best thing that could happen for the Eritrean population.

Eritrea is one of the world’s harshest dictatorships and all power is concentrated in the President Isaias Afwerki and his party PFDJ.

Several thousand prisoners of conscience are calculated in prison in Eritrea without trial and under poor conditions.

Dawit Isaak is, according to Amnesty International the only Swedish prisoner of conscience. He was arrested 23 September 2001.

• EXPRESSEN

by Agazit Afeworki

Seattle’s Eritrean and Ethiopian communities held separate vigils on April 25 and May 1 at the Ethiopian Community Center and Rainier Valley Cultural Center to honor the Eritrean and Ethiopian men brutally executed in a video by the terrorist organization ISIS last month. Read More Here…

Human lives matter more than geopolitics. That is why the whole world should take action when thousands of refugees drown at the doorstep of Europe. Not just Italy. Not just Germany. Not just the European Union. Every country with the resources to do so should step in.

First, a quick geography lesson. The Mediterranean Sea is one of the world’s most deadly migration routes. It is almost completely enclosed by land and surrounded by Europe, Asia and Africa. The sea has historically been of vast importance as a route for travelers and merchants during ancient times and as a food source. Nowadays, it seems like there are more bodies being pulled out of the water than fish.

Due to wars tearing apart Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and Iraq and poverty in Eritrea, Egypt and many African countries, millions of people are fleeing for their lives. In 2015, we have already seen the biggest boat tragedy ever in the Mediterranean with over 800 lives lost on April 20. This figure is only a guess though. We will never know exactly how many people died while trying to cross the ocean since only estimates were given of how many passengers were on board. The authorities quickly had to give up finding more survivors – and more bodies.

In life as well as death, refugees have their humanity taken away from them. They are not named or sympathized with equally to, for example, the people of the MH17 Malaysian flight because there are no records of their existence. The pictures of their lifeless bodies are used as a shameless plug by media outlets. When their deaths are discussed by politicians, they are considered a nuisance because of the economic and social pressure they are putting European nations under. Meanwhile, in the United States, the refugees are brushed off as being Europe’s problem despite the fact that the US spurred many of the conflicts to begin with, especially in the Middle East. If we disregard the reasons behind the many conflicts for a moment, it should not matter where in the world there is suffering. When there is a humanitarian crisis, countries should forego differences and political concerns and help those in need. Seeking asylum is a human right and just because we are privileged enough not to be in the need of it, it does not mean we should turn our backs on those less fortunate.

Labeling the Mediterranean migration as a humanitarian crisis is no exaggeration. This year alone, an estimated 20,000 migrants have reached Italy while over 1,800 have died. Between July 1 and September 30 in 2014, over 90,000 people crossed the Mediterranean while at least 2,200 lost their lives. At the current rate, the death toll could amount to a staggering 30,000 by the end of 2015, as estimated by the International Organization for Migration. To make matters even more depressing, in 2014, the number of people displaced or seeking asylum reached over 50 million people for the first time in the era of post-World War II.

All of this is happening far away from the United States and other prosperous countries and thus only reaches us when it makes the news. Once it stops being news and coverage ceases, so does our attention. Although, the issues might not be present in our minds anymore, it does not mean that the 50 million are doing any better. Awareness is urgent because even when faced with this life or death choice, the leaders of the world are stalling.

So what are the solutions? Ideally, the reasons behind the massive displacements would be solved so people would not have to flee. That would mean solving war, poverty and discrimination. Probably not going to happen, is it? The next best option would be to give refugees safer routes to travel by and help those traveling across the sea by organizing humanitarian efforts. As for what regular students such as us can do: we can sign petitions, donate money and inform others. Essentially, we can show care for our fellow human-beings.