NAIROBI - Eritrean authorities have arrested at least nine journalists working for state-owned media in the past two weeks, an international press freedom watchdog said on Wednesday, adding it feared for the safety and lives of those detained.| Eating their own, are they? |
Eritrean officials were not immediately available for comment, but Asmara frequently dismisses rights criticisms as part of an international smear campaign against it.
RSF said it had information that at least six Eritrean journalists had defected after fleeing the Horn of Africa country or requesting asylum abroad since October. The watchdog said Eritrea, with at least 22 detained journalists, was Africa’s ‘biggest prison for the press’. Last week, it said three journalists may have died at an Eritrean desert camp where dozens of political prisoners were living in squalid conditions.