9 Journalists Arrested After Shutdown of Papers
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Eritrean authorities have arrested as many as nine independent journalists a week after shutting down all privately owned newspapers, diplomatic sources said.
The government suspended the papers Sept. 18, saying they had broken laws and “put at risk the unity and best interest of the country.”
In addition, President Isaias Afwerki’s government has arrested 11 ruling-party members who published a letter urging more democracy.
The arrests are seen as a setback for democracy in Eritrea, which in December is to hold its first presidential, parliamentary and local elections since winning independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
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