December 7, 2022, Upper Waiting Hall, Uk Parliament, London
“Our adversaries are cowards, afraid of the truth”
Awet Fissehaye of PEN Eritrea
The independent Eritrean journalists who have been jailed without trial for the last 21 years were remembered in the British Parliament last night. The star studded event was opened by the Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Eritrea, Patrick Grady MP, (statement below)
Speakers included Dr Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea, Lord David Alton, Lyn Brown MP, Labour Shadow Africa Minister and Awet Fissehaye of PEN Eritrea.
Guests began visiting the exhibition itself, which is in the lobby that all members of parliament pass through to get to the parliament’s committee rooms.
This was followed by a meeting in the Jubilee Room, chaired by Patrick Grady, MP, who pledged to keep campaigning with the Eritrean community to get the imprisoned journalists freed. [See his statement below]
Lord David Alton, a frequent speaker in parliament on Eritrea, who has continually raised the subject with Ministers, encouraged British Eritreans to speak to their own member of parliament about the suffering of their people. “This is your democratic right,” he said. “Use it to get your MP engaged with Eritrea.”
Lyn Brown, the Labour Party’s shadow Africa minister, welcomed the exhibition as a chance to raise the issue of Eritrean human rights. She went on to talk about the terrible abuses Eritrean troops had inflicted on civilians during their invasion of Tigray: “we need to ensure that all perpetrators are held to account.” Continue
