Eritrean journalists such as Dawit Habtemichael, Medhanie Haile and Ghebrehiwet Keleta are among 13 journalists who have been imprisoned since 2000 in the country. The East African country currently holds the highest number of journalists – 16 – in jail.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), there were 67 journalists imprisoned in Africa in 2023, with the majority in Eritrea (16), Egypt (13) and Ethiopia (8). Globally, there were 320 journalists imprisoned.

Eritrea is ranked eighth globally, behind China (44), Myanmar (43), Belarus (28), Russia (22), Vietnam (19), Iran (17) and Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (17).

According to the CPJ, those held in Eritrea “include some of the longest known cases of journalists imprisoned around the world; none has ever been charged”.

Habtemichael, the editor of Meqaleh newspaper, was one of 11 journalists arrested in September 2001, when the government cracked down on independent press. His health, whereabouts and legal status are unknown. As the CPJ said: “Eritrea has repeatedly failed to provide credible answers to questions about imprisoned journalists or to allow visits from family or lawyers.”

The CPJ has been unable to confirm reports that Habtemichael died in custody, and has thus retained his name on the prison census to hold the Eritrean government responsible for his fate.

Haile, a lawyer, civil servant and editor, was imprisoned in September 2001. As with Habtemichael, Haile’s fate remains unknown. He was the editor of Keste Debana, a publication that reported on divisions between reformers and conservatives within the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice.

The publication advocated for the full implementation of the country’s democratic constitution.

Keleta, another journalist, was arrested in 2000 by security agents while he was on his way to work. As with Haile and Habtemichael, Keleta’s fate remains unknown.

In July 2022, a complaint was laid with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calling for accountability in the case of Dawit Isaak, a detained journalist who’s been held in Eritrea since 2001.

The complaint was lodged by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, in partnership with an international coalition of leading NGOs, including Reporters Without Borders, the CPJ, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, Parliamentarians for Global Action, PEN International, DefendDefenders and their legal representatives.

Angola joins list – for first time in 26 years

Across the continent, journalists were jailed in places such as Ethiopia for their coverage of a longstanding conflict in the country’s Amhara State between federal forces and regional militia. According to the CPJ, all eight journalists arrested in 2023 were reporting on the conflict.

In another part of the continent, Angola has seen its first journalist jailed in almost 26 years. Carlos Raimundo Alberto, the editor of the online news outlet Portal A Denúncia, was arrested on 29 September 2023 in order to serve a three-year jail sentence.

He was convicted in 2021 for criminal defamation, according to the CPJ, for his reporting on the allegations of corruption by Angola’s then deputy attorney general. Despite publishing multiple apologies, as required by the courts, Alberto was still waiting for the Supreme Court to hear his petition for release.

In 2023, Senegal had five journalists in jail, in comparison with one in 2022.

According to the CPJ, in the release of the breakdown, the case of Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala underscored concerns about the continuing criminalisation of journalism.

Tshiamala, a journalist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested in September 2023 over his news website Jeune Afrique’s report about the military intelligence’s possible involvement in the murder of an opposition politician. This was despite the website saying Tshiamala did not write it. He was awaiting trial on charges of spreading falsehoods and forgery, said the CPJ.

According to Reporters Without Borders, no fewer than 547 journalists started 2024 in prison. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.