Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Eritrea.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Eritrea. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** A
Torture Survivor Drew These Pictures To Describe The Hell Eritrea Has Become Charlotte Alfred,
The Huffington Post, 11 June 2015 www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/11/eritrea-torture-report_n_7563850.html [accessed 21 June
2015] Updated 6 Dec 2017 [accessed 31
December 2018] In one small East African
country, the rule of law has been replaced by the rule of fear. That was the
conclusion of a yearlong investigation by the United Nations Commission of
Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea, which released its report this week. The report
lays out in horrifying detail the mass surveillance, torture, enslavement and
disappearances under Eritrea’s totalitarian regime since that country gained
independence from Ethiopia in the early 1990s. The U.N. investigators said
systemic human rights abuses in Eritrea are on a scale rarely seen anywhere
else in the world and may constitute crimes against humanity. Among the harrowing
testimonies in the report, one survivor recalled, “They arrested me,
handcuffed me and attached a rope in order to hang me like Jesus Christ but
without my arms outspread.” His hands were paralyzed for months, and the pain
still lingers, he told U.N. investigators. “There are no rules when
torturing. They can beat you five minutes or an hour, as they wish,” he said. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Eritrea U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/eritrea/
[accessed 18 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Former prisoners
described two specific forms of punishment by security forces known as
“helicopter” and “8.” For “helicopter,” prisoners lie face down on the ground
and their hands and legs are tied behind them. For “8,” they are tied to a
tree. Prisoners were often forced to stay in either position for 24-48 hours,
in some cases longer, and only released to eat or to
relieve themselves. Use of psychological torture was common, according to
inmates held in prior years. Some former prisoners reported authorities
conducted interrogations and beatings within hearing distance of other prisoners
to intimidate them. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Authorities are
believed to have continued the practice of holding some detainees
incommunicado in metal shipping containers and underground cells without
toilets or beds. The government did not consistently provide adequate basic
or emergency medical care in prisons or detention centers. Food, sanitation,
ventilation, and lighting were inadequate, and potable water was sometimes
available only for purchase. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/eritrea/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 12 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? UN investigators
have described the routine and systematic use of physical and psychological
torture in both civilian and military detention centers. Deaths in custody or
in military service due to torture and other harsh conditions have also been
reported. Security forces employ lethal violence arbitrarily and with
impunity. Individuals attempting to escape military service or flee the
country have been fired on by soldiers. From
torture in Eritrea to being terrorised in Italy:
one migrant’s tale Tom Kington, The
Times, Rome, 2 May 2015 www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/africa/article4428601.ece [accessed 10 May
2015] Judging by the
names they give their favourite torture techniques,
military prison guards in Eritrea like to spice their sadism with a cruel
sense of humour. One technique,
called the “almas”, involves tying prisoners’ arms behind their backs,
connecting the ropes to the ceiling and then hoisting them up high enough to
ensure that they can touch the ground only on tiptoes, if they stretch. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] ERITREA ARBITRARY ARREST,
PROLONGED DETENTION, AND INHUMANE CONDITIONS - Arbitrary arrests are the norm. A
prisoner may or may not be told the reason for the arrest; even prison
authorities may not be informed. Detainees are held indefinitely; releases
are as arbitrary as arrest, and few, if any, detainees are brought to trial.
The most prominent political prisoners are 21 senior government officials and
journalists arrested in September 2001 and held in solitary confinement ever
since; defecting jailers claim that half have died
in captivity. The then-15-year-old daughter of a government minister arrested
immediately after her father defected in 2012 remains incarcerated. Prisoners are held
in vastly overcrowded underground cells or shipping containers, with no space
to lie down, little or no light, oppressive heat or cold, and vermin. Food,
water, and sanitation are inadequate, beatings and
other physical abuse are common, deaths not unusual. Some of the leaders of
an attempted 2013 takeover of the Ministry of Information died in prison in
2014, according to unconfirmed reports. Human Rights in
Eritrea Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/node/105618 [accessed 25 January
2013] Eritrea is one of
the world’s most repressive and closed countries. The government of President
Isaias Afewerki has effectively banned the independent press. Journalists
languish in detention, as do officials who question Isaias’s leadership; many
have died in jail. No civil society organizations are allowed to exist.
Arbitrary arrest of citizens is rampant, and torture in detention is
common. Leading religious institutions
– Orthodox Christian and Muslim – are run by government-appointees; adherents
of other religions are jailed until they renounce their faiths. Nearly all men and many women over 18 are
conscripted into indefinite “national service,” which exploits them as forced
labor at survival wages. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
- Torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners were widespread. Prisoners
were beaten, tied in painful positions and left in extreme weather
conditions, and held in solitary confinement for long periods. Conditions in
detention amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Many detainees
were held in metal shipping containers or underground cells, often in desert
locations, where they were exposed to extremes of heat and cold. Detainees
received inadequate food and water. They were frequently denied – or provided
with only inadequate – medical care. Journalist Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu, arrested in February 2009, was reportedly
admitted to hospital in January, under permanent guard and with no visitors
permitted. Her family was not told why she had been admitted. Petros Solomon, a former
Foreign Minister and one of the G15 group – 11 high-profile politicians
detained arbitrarily since 2001 – was reportedly hospitalized in July due to
a serious illness. However, adequate medical care was unavailable in Eritrea.
His fate remained unknown. A number of deaths
in custody were reported. In August, Yohannes Haile, a Jehovah’s Witness detained since
September 2008, reportedly died at Me’eter prison
from the effects of extreme heat after being confined underground since
October 2011. Three others detained with him were reportedly in critical
condition. Their fate remained unknown. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=eritrea+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 31 December
2018] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/af/119000.htm [accessed 25 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61568.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law and
ratified but unimplemented constitution prohibits torture; however, there
were numerous reports that security forces resorted to torture and beatings
of prisoners, particularly during interrogations. There were credible reports
that several military conscripts died following such treatment. Security
forces severely mistreated and beat army deserters, draft evaders, persons
attempting to flee the country without travel documents and exit permits, and
members of certain religious groups. Security forces subjected deserters and
draft evaders to such disciplinary actions as prolonged sun exposure in
temperatures of up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit and the binding of hands,
elbows, and feet for extended periods. No known action was taken during the
year to punish perpetrators of torture and abuse. There were reliable
reports that torture was widespread in an unknown number of detention
facilities, corroborated by prison escapees. For example, authorities
suspended prisoners from trees with their arms tied behind their backs, a
technique known as "almaz" (diamond).
Authorities also placed prisoners face down with their hands tied to their
feet, a technique known as the "helicopter." There were reliable
reports that military officials tortured foreign fishermen captured in
Eritrean waters. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/eritrea [accessed 25 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 12 May
2020] According to Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch, torture, arbitrary detentions, and
political arrests are common. Religious persecution and ill-treatment of
those trying to avoid military service are increasing, and torture is
systematically practiced by the army. Prison conditions are poor, and outside
monitors such as the International Committee of the Red Cross have been
denied access to detainees. All
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
Eritrea", http://gvnet.com/torture/Eritrea.htm, [accessed <date>] |
