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October 18, 2001
Justice
Delayed is Justice Denied-One month later
ByBerhane S
September18th 2001 was the day we woke up to the shock of the arrest of the11
senior members of the PFDJ. Tomorrow, October 18th will beexactly a month
since they have been detained. I will try to present my take onwhat happened
in the last one month below:
The G-11
PFDJ, the governing party in Eritrea has been rocked byinternal dissension
and mutual incrimination for a couple of months beforeculminating in the
arrest of the G-11. A few days after their arrest,information started
trickling out that the reason for the arrest was treason.What was considered
treacherous in the act of the G-11 has not been madepublic, officially. This
obviously, has helped the rumor mills where everyonefrom the sworn enemies of
Eritrea to opportunists who read this as a jobvacancy have tried to spin it
in whatever angle suits them.
It was expected that some form of a preliminary hearingwould be conducted to
start a legal proceeding, in the last one-month. Either nothinghas happened,
or we have not been made privy to what is happening, to thedisappointment of
some who wished that the legal route would bring this crisisto a respectable
ending. While the government, through the presidentialspokesperson stated
that those in jail are citizens not above the law, the GOEitself seems to be
teetering on the margin by not presenting them to court asstipulated in our
criminal codes. Laws cannot be used against the citizen andexempt officials
of the government of Eritrea from responsibility of detainingcitizens without
the consent of the law.
Without involving in the nitty gritty of the issues athand, which we have
been repeatedly advised to avoid, by governmentfunctionaries, including
Ambassador Girma Asmerom, it would only be fair to askthe GOE to respect its
own rules and cite those accused of a crime. I wouldalso like to remind the
Justice arm of our government to make sure that ALLrespect the laws in
Eritrea. The Judiciary cannot and should not expect to be viewedas neutral
upholders of the laws of the land if they ignore the legal status ofthe G-11.
It is quiet simply a situation where the judiciary can feignignorance.
The Media
Another heart-breaking disappointment in the last onemonth was the closure of
the private media with no notice. The manner theclosure was conducted in my
view, when conciding with the arrest of the G-11sounds too political for the
credibility of the government’s excuse.Eventhough, in some instances the
media may have erred out of sensationalism orexperience, a blanket closure of
the media has showed that the lack ofexperience is not only a problem of the
media but also of the governmentdealing with them.
Yemane Ghebreab, in his presentation during the festivalin Eritrea, made an
interesting observation by stating that the way forward wasto promote
publishing of the government views. I was, I would say, proud of
ourleadership hoping that we would come to experience a healthy debate where
thegovernment and its detractors would present their views to the public.
Alas! Thatwas not to be. What was wrong with the idea of the GOE using the
Eritreanprivate media to get to its readership? Would not that make more
sense thatenmass closure of the whole media? Isn’t it true that some of the
private mediaactually sided with the government? Why close those?
Would it not have been more reasonable for the GOE to suethe specific media
outlets rather than dwell on banning them?
What is more disturbing is the news that most of the samejournalists banned
have been nabbed by the GoE and are in jail. To be fair, Idid not read either
a rebuttal or acknowledgment from the GOE on this issue,except an assertion
by a member who escaped to Dehai. It is my view, that theGOE owes the
Eritrean public an explanation on its action. The media is animportant part
of a democracy to be shut by the GOE without the due process oflaw.
Respectfully,
Berhane S
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