On 24 May 1993, the state of Eritrea was formally recognised as an independent nation. Twenty years on, thousands of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners are held in arbitrary detention in Eritrea’s prisons, without charge or trial, for exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression or of thought, conscience or religion or belief, or for attempting to flee the repression in their country. This report highlights 20 years of widespread arbitrary arrest and detention without trial used against anyone in Eritrea who demonstrates dissent in any form.
