FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who is Dawit Isaak?
Dawit Isaak is a Swedish-Eritrean journalist, imprisoned in Eritrea without trial since 2001. Dawit was born 1964 in Eritrea, early during the 30-year liberation war against Ethiopia. He fled to Sweden in 1987. Five years later he became a Swedish citizen.
After the independence and the peace with Ethiopia in the early 90's, Dawit returned to Eritrea several times. In 1997 he became part-owner in the first independet newspaper, Setit.
In 2001, President Isaias Afeworki recieved a lot of criticism for his leadership. In the shadow of the terror attacks in USA in september 2001, the president arrested the critics and closed all independet press. 11 politicans and 10 journalists were jailed, one of them Dawit Isaak. Since then Dawit is imprisoned incommunicado without trial.
2. Why Dawit?
According to Amnesty, Dawit is the only Swedish citizen imprisoned due to his views. That is worth attention.
Naturally, keeping someone imprisoned due to his views is never is never acceptable, no matter his or her nationality. The reason that we are focusing on Dawit Isaak, is that we believe that the more the community can put in relation to an issue, the easier it is to pursue the issue.
Dawit Isaak's Swedish citizenship facilitates when it comes to bringing up the issue of press freedom in Sweden. With this approach, it is also possible to point out that Dawit is not the only journalist behind bars.
3. Who runs this site?
FreeDawit.com was built by Erik Mellström, student at the University of Linköping, Sweden. Design and timeline are created by a student at the University of Bath, England. Several writers contribute, including Johan Karlsson and Dawit's brother Esayas Isak.
4. Do you have another question?
