PEN Eritrea marks 25 years of disappeared journalists with London call for proof of life
An event at King's College London on 18 September will mark a quarter-century since Eritrea's crackdown on the independent press, with organisers demanding confirmation that the detained journalists and writers are still alive.
By Eyob Hadgu · 7 September 2026
A 2015 demonstration in Stockholm marking 5,000 days of Dawit Isaak's imprisonment in Eritrea. Photo: Frankie Fouganthin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
PEN Eritrea in Exile will hold an event at King's College London on Friday 18 September marking 25 years since Eritrea's independent journalists and writers were detained, under the title "Eritrea – 25 Years Disappeared: Proof of Life Now".
The gathering runs from 5pm to 8pm in the university's REACH Space in central London, and is organised in partnership with English PEN, PEN International and King's College London's Global Cultures Institute. Tickets are being issued through Ticket Tailor.
"For a quarter of a century, many Eritrean journalists and writers have remained forcibly disappeared and held incommunicado without trial, legal representation, or confirmed information about their condition," the organisers said in their announcement of the event.
Who the campaign names
The campaign's materials name 16 imprisoned Eritrean journalists and writers. Among them are Dawit Isaak, the Eritrean-Swedish co-founder of the newspaper Setit; Amanuel Asrat, a poet and editor-in-chief of Zemen; Seyoum Tsehaye, a photojournalist and founding director of Eritrean state television; Yusuf Mohamed Ali, editor-in-chief of Tsigenay; and Ghebrehiwet Keleta, a reporter for the same paper.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International, about 13 journalists were taken into custody in September and October 2001 as the government closed down the country's private press. Those detained between 21 and 23 September 2001 included Isaak, Tsehaye, Asrat, Dawit Habtemichael, Mattewos Habteab, Fesseaye "Joshua" Yohannes, Said Abdelkader and Medhanie Haile. The arrests followed reporting on an open letter from senior ruling-party figures, known as the G-15, criticising President Isaias Afwerki.
CPJ says the Eritrean government has repeatedly failed to give credible answers about the detained journalists or to allow visits by families or lawyers, and that none has been charged or brought to trial. Reports that several of the 2001 detainees have since died in custody remain unverified, the organisation says, resting on second- and third-hand accounts that Eritrean authorities have not confirmed or denied.
The programme
The event is chaired by Dr Mai Musié, an ancient historian and member of PEN Eritrea in Exile. Speakers listed include Professor Ghirmai Negash of Ohio University, Nduko o'Matigere, head of PEN International's Africa region, Martin Plaut, senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, and the community leader and political analyst Abdurahman Sayed.
Alongside the panel discussion on freedom of expression, censorship and exile, the programme includes a screening of the film "Dawit: Every Century Has Its Own Hideous Face" and an audience question-and-answer session.
This report draws on reporting from Martin Plaut, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International and English PEN.
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