Amanuel Asrat's 50th Birthday

Today 26 July 2021 is the 50th birthday  of Eritrean Poet, critic and editor-in-chief of the leading newspaper Zemen, Amanuel Asrat.

Amanuel  a graduate of soil science and water conservation of University of Asmara, is greatly credited for Eritrea’s poetry resurgence of 2000s. An award-winning poet and critic, Amanuel along with two friends, also created a literary club called  ቍርሲ ቀዳም ኣብ ጠዓሞት  (Saturday’s Supper) prompting literary clubs to emerge in all major Eritrean towns. While he was editor-in-chief of Zemen, the newspaper was the leading literary newspaper in Eritrea and helped shape the cultural landscape; Asrat himself was a popular art critic.

Amanuel’s paper was one of several that reported on divisions between reformers and conservatives within the ruling Party for Democracy and Justice and advocated for full implementation of the country’s democratic constitutionn 2001, the Eritrean government began a campaign to silence its critics, arresting opposition politicians, students and many journalists. As part of this crackdown, Amanuel was arrested at his home on 23 September 2001, alongside the editors of all privately-owned newspapers for reporting around the G-15 letter, an open letter from prominent Eritrean politicians that condemned the actions of President Isias Afwerki and his regime. 

 The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights ruled in May 2007 that journalists arrested in September 2001 in Eritrea, which includes Amanuel Asrat, were being held in arbitrary and unlawful detention. It called upon the Eritrean government to release the men and compensate them. The Government of Eritrea has ignored the ruling and journalists arrested in September 2001 remain in detention.

.Over the years, Eritrean officials have offered vague and inconsistent explanations for the arrests–accusing the journalists of involvement in anti-state conspiracies  in connection with foreign intelligence, of skirting military service, and of violating press regulations. Officials, at times, even denied that the journalists existed. Meanwhile, shreds of often unverifiable, second- or third-hand information smuggled out of the country by people fleeing into exile suggested as many as seven journalists have died in custody.

 When asked in a June 2016 interview with Radio France International about the status of journalists and politicians arrested in 2001, Eritrean Foreign Affairs Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed said "all of them are alive" and “in good hands,” adding that they would face trial "when the government decides.”

 In June 2019, a group of over 100 prominent African journalists, writers, and activists wrote an open letter to Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki asking to visit the imprisoned journalists and activists, according to a copy of the letter that was published by the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian. In a response published on its website, Eritrea’s Ministry of Information said that only reporters with a “genuine interest in understanding the country” were welcome, and said the imprisoned journalists were arrested for “events of sedition.”

According to English PEN, Asrat and his fellow writers are believed to have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including lack of access to medical care, while detained in the purpose-built maximum-security prison Eiraeiro. The free speech organisation, which awards the PEN Pinter prizes  said that it was unknown whether charges have been brought against them or if they have ever been brought to trial. He has not been heard from since. 

Asrat's writings detailed the daily life of the underprivileged, and explored themes of war and peace, notably depicting the negative side of conflict. Amanuel Asrat is one of the few Eritrean writers who are assuming their proper places and due recognitions internationally mainly through PEN Eritrea’s advocacy campaign. He was profiled in August 2015 issue of The Guardian along other five Eritrean journalists; his poem was translated into 14 languages to mark International Translation Day; he held one of the empty chairs at the 81^st PEN Congress in Quebec, Canada; and he was one of the five writers featured in 2015 on the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, an international day that recognizes writers who have suffered persecution as a result of exercising their right to freedom of expression. In October 2020,Asrat was named International Writer of Courage by Linton Kwesi Johnson. the writer and musician  Linton Kweisi Johnson won the PEN Pinter Prize 2020 in memory of playwright Harold Pinter.As part of the win, he could  “share” his prize with another individual,and he chose Amanuel.

Johnson paid tribute to Asrat: "Keeping a citizen incarcerated, incommunicado, without charge or trial for nearly 20 years is the kind of egregious brutality that we associate with totalitarian states and dictatorships. As a gesture of solidarity from a poet of the African diaspora, I have chosen the Eritrean poet, songwriter, critic, and journalist Amanuel Asrat as the Writer of Courage for 2020."

Daniel Mebrahtu, Amanuel Asrat’s brother, commented: "We, the family of Amanuel Asrat, are very pleased, honoured and humbled to accept this award on behalf of our son and brother, Amanuel Asrat. Many thanks to English PEN and Mr Linton Kwesi-Johnson. Amanuel is suffering under the harsh conditions of the Eiraeiro dungeon in Eritrea for 19 years and counting. His whereabouts are not known. We don’t even know whether he is alive or dead. We wish Amanuel was aware of this prize and honour somehow. We ask the international community to intervene in his case and other prisoners of conscience in Eritrea, and demand their immediate release. Thank you for the recognition, for your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for your constant support. We really appreciate it."

For International Translation Day on 30 September 2015, PEN members from around the world translated Amanuel's  ኣበሳ ኲናት (The Scourge of War) into  many different languages. The poem is an unflinching look at the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia that lasted from 1998 to 200 and that reports from the time that left tens of thousands dead,

‘ኣበሳ ኲናት (The Scourge of War)’

Where two brothers pass each other
Where two brothers meet each other
Where two brothers conjoin
In the piazza of life and death
In the gulf of calamity and cultivation
In the valley of fear and peace
Something resounded.
The ugliness of the thing of war
When its spring comes
When its ravaging echoes knock at your door
It is then that the scourge of war brews doom
But…
You serve it willy-nilly
Unwillingly you keep it company
Still, for it to mute how hard you pray!
– Translated by Tedros Abraham

To mark Amanuel Asrat’s 50th birthday, I hope that you will join me  in sending messages of solidarity to his family, to show them that he has not been – and will not be – forgotten. You can do so here:-

https://www.englishpen.org/pen-writes/penwrites-amanuel-asrat/