ERITREAN AMBASSADOR REFUSED TO MEET CRITICS
Göteborg, Sweden, 2005-04-24
Not wanting to confront critics and the media, Eritrean ambassador to
Scandinavia Mr. Araya Desta, had to sneak in through the back door at a
meeting held on Sunday in Göteborg, Sweden.
Covered by all major Swedish media, friends, family and supporters of
imprisoned Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak had gathered to
confront the ambassador outside a meeting hall in Dawit Isaak's Swedish
hometown Göteborg. But in order to escape attention, the ambassador
entered through a back door. Media and members of the support committee
were refused to attend the meeting.
'Since the ambassador declines to meet with us at the embassy, we try
to contact him in this way. But he refuses to meet us here too. It
proves that he has no case', said Leif Öbrink, spokesperson of the
Support Committee Free Dawit Isaak.
In his speech, Mr. Araya Desta said that the embassy finds it difficult
doing its job in Sweden due to the campaign to free Dawit Isaak. He
also accused the Liberal Party of using the case just to gain votes.
Together with Swedish press organisations, the Support Committe
delivers a petition to the Eritrean embassy every Tuesday. However, the
embassy refuses to accept the petitions. In letters, the ambassador has
attacked Swedish media and politicians who have drawn attention to
Dawit Isaak's case, but he continously refuses to discuss the topic
publicly.
Swedish citizen Dawit Isaak was arrested along with nine other
journalists in Eritrea in September 2001. Detained incommunicado ever
since, he has neither been prosecuted nor sentenced for any crime. He
is currently the only Swedish national that Amnesty International
considers a prisoner of conscience.
Read more about Dawit Isaak and sign the petition at
http://www.freedawit.com.
News.Asmarino.Com