The War On News

A record of government actions against journalism and fact-based reporting, 1900 to today

Incident

Eritrea: independent press closed and journalists jailed without trial

EritreaRSF rank: not recorded

Engraving of an empty press briefing room with a lectern and rows of chairs

Eritrea's government closed every private newspaper and jailed at least nineteen journalists, including Dawit Isaac of the paper Setit, without charge or trial in September 2001, after suspending the constitution. Several have never been publicly accounted for since.123

What happened

On September 18, 2001, as international attention was focused on the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 hijackings in the United States, Eritrea's government under President Isaias Afwerki closed the country's private newspapers and arrested their editors and reporters, including Dawit Isaac, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist and co-owner of the newspaper Setit. At least nineteen journalists were detained in the restrictions that followed, along with a group of senior political dissidents. None of them has ever been publicly charged with a crime or given a trial. Authorities have refused to disclose the detainees' locations or confirm whether they remain alive, a practice that international law treats as enforced disappearance. Isaac was reported to have been held for 3,127 days as of a 2010 accounting, with no public update on his status since.123

Unresolved; the detainees' fates remain unconfirmed as of the source reviewed.123

What reason was given

Stated justification

Not stated in the sources reviewed.123

What changed for reporting

The closures ended Eritrea's independent press entirely, and the indefinite, uncharged detention of its journalists has kept the country at the bottom of international press freedom rankings for more than two decades.123

Timeline

2001

18 September 2001
Eritrea: independent press closed and journalists jailed without trial

Who acted

NameRole in this incidentOffice at the time
Isaias AfwerkiotherPresident of Eritrea

Outlets and journalists

NameKindRelation
Setitoutletaffected
Dawit Isaacjournalist, Setitaffected

Sources

  1. Dawit Isaac: jailed 3,127 days in Eritrea without trialCommittee to Protect Journalists, 2010-04-16, reporting. Source record
  2. 'If we don't give them a voice, no one will': Eritrea's forgotten journalists, still jailed after 14 yearsThe Guardian, 2015-08-19, reporting. Source record
  3. Eritrea's G-15 political prisoners: 'I don't even know if my ...'BBC, 2026, reporting. Source record

Claims and evidence

Each numbered claim quotes the source it rests on.

  1. Description of Isaac's legal status after years in detention.He has never been publicly charged with a crime or been given a trial.Dawit Isaac: jailed 3,127 days in Eritrea without trial, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2010-04-16.Claim 670, checked 2026-09-22.
  2. CPJ's description of when the detentions began.Many were first detained in 2001, when the government cracked down on political dissent and the independent media.Dawit Isaac: jailed 3,127 days in Eritrea without trial, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2010-04-16.Claim 671, checked 2026-09-22.
  3. Description tying the closures to the constitution's suspension.a document President Isaias Afeworki indefinitely suspended in September 2001 after shutting down private newspapers like Isaac's SetitDawit Isaac: jailed 3,127 days in Eritrea without trial, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2010-04-16.Claim 672, checked 2026-09-22.