Dawit Isaak, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist, was imprisoned in Eritrea almost 22 years ago. His daughter, Betlehem Isaak, has long been fighting for her father’s cause and against the regime in Eritrea.
”I stand with the counter-demonstrators, but I do not condone violence,” she says.
Betlehem Isaak was not present on Thursday when violence broke out during the Eritrean cultural festival at Järvafältet in Stockholm. However, she is not surprised that it happened.
”I don’t defend it, but I understand why it happens. The regime loyalists support the violence and repression that is taking place in Eritrea,” says Betlehem Isaak.
”Eritreans are tired of fleeing. Many want to go home and build a liberal democratic Eritrea. A country where human rights are respected and the country develops.”
Dawit was arrested in 2001. He was one of the founders of Eritrea’s first independent newspaper. Since then, he has been imprisoned without trial.
As of 2021, media reports indicated that UN experts had reliable sources confirming that Dawit Isaak was alive in September 2020. There are no clear proofs of life, but there is also no information to the contrary.
”We know that several others who were arrested at the same time are dead. However, no news has come regarding Dawit,” says Björn Tunbäck, a board member of Reporters Without Borders and a Swedish television (SVT) employee who has long been involved in the case.
Reporters Without Borders has filed a complaint against Eritrea’s President, Isaias Afwerki, for crimes against humanity in the case of Dawit Isaak.
Watch the interview with Betlehem Isaak in the video above.
