Written declaration No. 489 | Doc. 12742 | 04 October 2011

Justice for Dawit Isaak in Eritrea

Signatories: Mr Mats JOHANSSON, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Lennart AXELSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Mikael CEDERBRATT, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Ms Ingrida CIRCENE, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Mr Igor CORMAN, Republic of Moldova, SOC ; Mr Paul FLYNN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Ms Sylvi GRAHAM, Norway, EPP/CD ; Mr Jonas GUNNARSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Andres HERKEL, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Kerstin LUNDGREN, Sweden, ALDE ; Mr Dirk Van der MAELEN, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Carina OHLSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Marietta de POURBAIX-LUNDIN, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Ms Marlene RUPPRECHT, Germany, SOC ; Mr Jim SHERIDAN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Christoph STRÄSSER, Germany, SOC ; Mr Björn von SYDOW, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Anne-Mari VIROLAINEN, Finland, EPP/CD ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

The Swedish-Eritrean citizen, journalist and writer Dawit Isaak was arrested in Eritrea on 23 September 2001, and has since then been held in prison. No charge has been made, no trial held, no visits allowed. His location is unknown to this day.

As pointed out in a recent appeal for Dawit Isaak to the Eritrean High Court by a group of European human rights lawyers, supported by a wide range of publishers from all over Europe, the right to Habeas Corpus is granted in Eritrean law. The treatment of Dawit Isaak contravenes the Eritrean Criminal Procedure Code. According to Articles 1, 19 and 59 in the Code a person must be brought before a court within 48 hours and a court can grant at the most 28 days for the investigating officer before the prisoner must be released if not charged. Article 62 of the Code also prohibits that prisoners are held incommunicado.

The case also runs counter to international law and conventions signed by Eritrea, such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the UN Declaration on Prison Conditions and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

This is no longer a bilateral matter between Sweden and the present regime of Eritrea, but a matter of universal respect for the principles of political and human rights, so dearly protected by the Council of Europe. Therefore we ask member and observer governments of the Council of Europe to use their international and bilateral relations to help Dawit Isaak receive justice after his disappearance in prison in Eritrea a decade ago.