|
 Network
of Eritreans for Constitutional
Governance
(NECG)
Eritrea:
Swedish Youth Call On Military To Free Kidnapped Journo
Sweden's
Moderate Party youth head Niklas Wykman: Military be called in to
free Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak, who has sat in prison in
Eritrea for more than seven years.
28
May 2009 (The Local)--The
head of the Moderate Party’s youth wing has proposed that the
military be called in to free Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak, who has
sat in prison in Eritrea for more than seven years.
“Eritrea
and the regime there have chosen to kidnap a Swedish citizen; that is
unacceptable. Therefore I think that we should consider a military
strike to free Dawit,” Moderate Party youth head Niklas Wykman
told the TT news agency.
· 200,000
Swedes back 'Free Dawit Isaak' campaign
(3 May 09)
· Swedish
politicians in secret meetings over Dawit release
(29 Mar 09)
· Papers
join forces to free Swedish journalist
(27 Mar 09)
“I
believe Dawit has certain rights as a Swedish citizen and we should
protect them.”
He added that his suggestion, detailed in an
opinion article published on the Newsmill.se website, deserved
serious consideration.
“It is absolutely a serious proposal
which I think should be considered,” he said.
Wykman’s
views came on the heels of an interview conducted by Sweden’s
TV4 with Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki during which he explained
that there were no plans to hold a trial for Isaak or to release
him.
“Sweden can’t back down from a dictator who
unjustly imprisons one of our citizens,” Wykman writes on
Newsmill.se.
“We can’t sit quietly and wait for his
oppressors to release him.”
Isaak came to Sweden as a
refugee more than two decades ago, taking Swedish citizen ship in
1992.
Isaak returned to Eritrea without his family to work for an
independent news magazine when the country gained independence.
He
was arrested in September 2001, after the magazine published an open
letter from political dissidents and has remained in prison ever
since.
“Now we see Eritrea’s president saying clearly
that he is uninterested in having a dialogue with Sweden. He don’t
want any diplomatic negotiations, he doesn’t want a trial, but
instead says that they have their own way of
handling this. We also have our way of dealing with our citizens,
I believe: we should protect them,” Wykman told TT.
Wykman
was skeptical about the chances that diplomacy would eventually lead
to Isaak’s release.
“Now Dawit has been in prison an
incredibly long time and at some point you have to ask yourself how
long we can accept that he’s been held kidnapped,” he
said. Posted to the web 27 May 2009
Source
and for comments: http://www.thelocal.se/19684/20090527/
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