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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 64/011/2005 28 July 2005 UA
197/05
Fear of torture or ill-treatment/incommunicado detention/detention
without charge
ERITREA Hundreds of relatives of military conscription evaders and deserters
Those
arrested were the fathers, mothers or other relatives of men or women over the
age of 18 who have either failed to report for national service since 1994,
failed to attend the compulsory final school year at Sawa military
training camp, abandoned their army unit, or left the country illegally. The
relatives have been accused of facilitating their evasion of conscription
or flight abroad. Officials reportedly offered them release on bail of between
10,000 and 50,000 nakfa (US$660 to US$3,300), if they guaranteed that they would
produce their missing relative. None of
those arrested has been charged with a criminal offence or taken to court within
the 48 hours stipulated by the Constitution and laws of Eritrea. They are held
incommunicado in different prisons. Many held in Adi Keih town prison reportedly
began a hunger strike in protest at their detention and have been moved to Mai
Serwa military camp near the capital Asmara. Prison conditions for political
detainees in Eritrea are harsh, with many held in metal shipping containers or
underground cells. BACKGROUND
INFORMATION Thousands of young men and women
have sought asylum in Sudan and other countries since Eritrea's war with
Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000, in an effort to avoid conscription or after
deserting from the army. National service, compulsory for all men and women aged
between 18 and 40, has been extended indefinitely from the original 18
months’ service enacted in 1994. It consists of military service and labour on
army-related construction projects. The right to conscientious objection to
military service is not recognized by the Eritrean authorities. There are
frequent round-ups to catch evaders and deserters. Torture and indefinite
arbitrary detention are used as punishments for military offences.
Amnesty
International is investigating reports that many conscripts detained for
military offences at Wia army camp,
east of the capital Asmara, were killed by armed guards in a prison break-out in
early June 2005. There has been no inquiry into the killing of over a
dozen people among some thousands of suspected conscription evaders arrested in
Asmara and detained at the nearby Adi Abeto army prison on 4 November (see UA
301/04, AFR 64/008/2004, 9 November 2004). RECOMMENDED
ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your
own language: - expressing concern at reports of hundreds of arrests in Debub region of parents and relatives of military conscription evaders and deserters; - expressing concern that they are being detained solely because of their relationship to those who have ev aded or deserted military service, and calling for their immediate release unless they are to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence; - calling for guarantees that they will not be tortured or ill-treated in detention; - urging the authorities to grant immediate access to relatives, lawyers and any necessary medical treatment to all the detainees, including those who reportedly began a hunger strike; - expressing
concern at reports that officials have told the detainees that
they can be bailed on payment of large sums of money. APPEALS TO:President His Excellency President Issayas
Afewerki Office
of the President P
O Box 257, Asmara, Eritrea Fax:
+ 2911 126422 Salutation:
Your Excellency Ms Fawzia Hashim
Minister
of Justice Ministry
of Justice P
O Box 241, Asmara, Eritrea Salutation:
Dear Minister COPIES TO:Brigadier Abraham Andom Commissioner of Police Ministry of Internal Affairs P O Box
1223, Asmara, Eritrea and to
diplomatic representatives of Eritrea accredited to your country. PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 8 September 2005. |
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