Last Sunday we commemorated the ten years since 9.11 2001. It was in the shadow of these events, when all eyes were on the burning towers in New York, that the Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak was arrested and imprisoned in Eritrea. Still there have been no charges against him and no trial. He is today according to Amnesty International the only European prisoner of conscience in the world.
Dawit Isaak is from Gothenburg, my home city. I was contacted very early after his arrest by friends and relatives of Dawit and ever since I have been engaged in his case. Many efforts have been made from both the EU and the Swedish government’s side but still after ten years Dawit is still imprisoned. I am extremely worried about the lack of progress and solution of this case. Ten years have now gone by and the scarce information we have received tells us that the state of health for Dawit Isaak is precarious. The fact is, we don’t even know if he is still alive.
In a few hours there will be a manifestation in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where I will attend to once again draw attention to Dawit Isaak’s case. It is an initiative of MEP Olle Schmidt, who tirelessly works for the release of Dawit. The President of the European Parliament Jerzy Busek and members from different countries and political groups will also participate.
Today I have also asked the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton to appoint a special person to address this case more forcefully and coordinate EU and Member States’ actions for his release. This person should also analyse the measures at our disposal to put more pressure on the Eritrean government to release Dawit Isaak.
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