Eritrean journalist escapes to Ethiopia

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that Voice of America correspondent Aklilu Solomon – imprisoned in a shipping container in 2003 for almost 18 months then kept under house arrest – had fled to Ethiopia.

“The escape of Aklilu Solomon, to whom we wish a decent and free life, is the latest episode of the tragedy of a country sinking into darkness,” RSF said in a statement.

Leaving Eritrea without permission is highly dangerous, with guards reportedly operating a shoot-to-kill policy on those who try to slip across the border illegally.

Aklilu was jailed in July 2003 after he reported that families of soldiers killed during Eritrea’s bloody war with Ethiopia had grieved and not celebrated at the public announcement of their death, contradicting official reports, according to RSF.

He was released in December 2004 but remained under close government control.

Eritrea argued that Aklilu had failed to complete his military service, although the VOA said at the time that he had previously been officially released on medical grounds.

Aklilu’s escape – believed to have happened earlier this month – follows reports by RSF last month that Eritrea had arrested at least nine journalists with the state-owned media in an apparent new crackdown.

RSF said that they were suspected of ties with other journalists who have fled the country and are active in opposition circles.

“These people flee their own country, often the country for which they have fought and for which they have given the best of themselves,” the statement added, saying that the government had imposed a “climate of terror.”

Government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Last month RSF also said that it had “credible and serious” reports that at least nine people, including three journalists, had died in Eritrean custody in the past 20 months.

Eritrea, rated world’s third-worst in press freedom by the RSF, is regularly accused of human rights abuses by international organizations.

It denies the charges, accusing critics of lacking information to support their allegations.