As the Gedab News has already disclosed, six people representing Belarus, Burma, Syria, Eritrea, Cuba and Uzbekistan participated in a panel discussion on prisoners of conscience. The discussion was held in the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York City on Thursday, July 24, 2008.  The panelist from Eritrea is Ms. Senait Yohannes, a sister of Aster Yohannes and sister-in-law to Minister Petros Solomon – two among the many Eritrean prisoners of conscience. The panel discussion was held in Conference Room No 6; a place that can accommodate around 150 people and which was fully packed. The discussion took almost an hour and half.

Senait’s short speech was different from the rest of the panelists. She did not say much about her sister and brother-in-law. Rather she spoke for the thousands of prisoners of conscience in Eritrea. She also spoke about the reform imitative that was crushed and the hope for rule of law and democratization that has remained shattered. At the end, she provided the international community with a list of actions that have to be taken. 

One panelist read a list of Doctors and Professors behind bars. His account matched with what Selam recently wrote. ‘Imagine an old women …’ said another panelist and continued to describe her treatment in prison. He urged the audience to remember such languishing prisoners of conscience. In deed!  

What do you do when you are stuck in a heavy traffic for an hour or two? Bang the steer in front of you in frustration? Yell at any body around to ‘get out of’ your way? If getting trapped and taking some more time on the road causes such displeasure, then think about some one locked in a cell of 2x2 meters for years – several years in case of many Eritrean prisoners of conscience. No light, no air, no heater when the temperature freezes, no AC when the heat is unbearable, no music as you could play in your car, no yelling at the driver (rather the prisoner) on your side as you are in solitary confinement … Imagine again, not about few minutes of delays as in the case of heavy traffic but years of imprisonment.  

Imagine the Sun that you have missed for several years. Imagine your kids that you have not seen for many years and whom you don’t know how tall they have grown up. And, you are facing these sufferings because you did the ‘mistake’ of speaking the truth, the right thing, the public interest … In a healthy community, even the notorious criminal who is convicted of the most heinous crime is not left in such deprivation of fundamental humanity. It is this suffering that thousands of people are facing and to which the panelists urged the audience to remember and to call others to speak about. I hope all the participants will do.  Eritreans have already started remembering September 2001. It is time. 

Almost all the participants were members of the community of press and human rights advocates. Present, too, were delegates of States. There were no many questions after the presentations. The testimonies the panelists told left the audience with broken hearts. A short comment by a certain delegate of Poland impressed everyone. When the gentleman started his remarks by introducing himself as a State delegate, as most of the delegates who work based on rigged instructions from their capitals do, he was indeed expected to be contrarian to what one of the panelists said. Rather, the gentleman thanked the international community that condemned Poland for its bad human rights records. In so doing, the delegate noted, the international community helped the country to get to the right track. It was a touching civil acknowledgment. 

Participants – there were about 150-200 of us and only six Eritreans, I guess. Honestly, I went there expecting to see more Eritreans. From the way I came to know of the event, it seems to me that the event was not publicized. True, you can’t hold a public event in a highly secured place such as the UN Headquarters.

Four of the Eritreans who attended did not know each other before in person. I had, thus, the pleasure to meet Senait, Daniel Tewolde, an activist in New York City representing the EGS Director and Elilta Yohannes – a sister of Aster who is lucky to finally get herself in the US after passing many hurdles. Present with us was Mr. Mohamed Keita from the Committee to Protect Journalists – a NGO that has been working for over twenty years to defend press freedom worldwide, using the tools of investigative journalism and public advocacy.   

Also present around were the Permanent Representative of Eritrea at the UN and Ato Amanuel Paulos, my former Professor. Wawww … Ato Amanuel Paulos was not only a hard working lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Asmara but also a high level official of the National Security Agency of Eritrea. Such a combination of tasks has given him a scary dubiousness. But, yesterday, he was in New York in a free country land. Plus, he was my professor who did his best to equip me with the knowledge I need in Criminal Law, International Law and Law of the Sea. He might have appeared on the scene not to hear what would be said but rather to see who would be around. Regardless, when I saw him, I hugged him compassionately. A photo here – missing! I am sorry; I was the camera man and now the reporter though I am already beaten by the Gedab News. I was hired by EMDHR. I was rather a representative, with full powers if you like, to cover the event. 

I am about to end my coverage except that I am left with one point. Hey, please; this is off the record! I have been in New York for sometime but never explored the city. An opportunity to see the city using the guests appeared, thanks to Daniel’s idea. No one was a tour guy though Daniel should have been the one, seconded by me. We passed by many places including the Eritrean Community Centre. Why not! If you are living in the free world, albeit economical harsh, be bold and righteous enough to say ‘black is black’. But remember again that we all are Eritreans that we should live together and respect our differences. It is this vital characteristic that we need to learn.  

Let’s remember the innocent behind the bars!