Seyoum Tsehaye (born 1952) is a jailed Eritrean journalist. At independence in 1993, Tsehaye was named to the head of

Eri-TV Eri-TV (acronym for Eritrean Television) is an Eritrean state-owned television network. Headquartered in the nation's capital Asmara, it broadcasts 24 hours a day. The station offers around-the-clock news bulletins, talk shows, and propaganda p ...

, the Eritrean state broadcaster. He was arrested in September 2001 when

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Isaias Afewerki Isaias Afwerki ( ti, ኢሳይያስ ኣፍወርቂ, ; born 2 February 1946) is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the president of Eritrea since shortly after he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in ...

closed all non-governmental media sources. In December 2007, Seyoum was named Reporter of the Year by Reporters Without Borders. , he was known to be alive, being held at Eiraeiro prison.

Childhood

As a child, Seyoum hoped to become a journalist.

Journalism

In 1977, Seyoum joined the

Eritrean People's Liberation Front The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group ...

(EPLF), which was fighting in the

Eritrean War of Independence The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991. Eritrea was an Italian colony from the 1880s until the ...

against the

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Wor ...

dictatorship of Ethiopia, to which Eritrea had been forcefully annexed. After four years training as a guerilla fighter, he started training in photography and started a joint role of fighter and war correspondent. Seyoum reported on the battle of Massawa in 1990, in which the EPLF gained control of the port city Massawa. In 1991, when the Mengistu dictatorship was overthrown, Seyoum became head of

, the Eritrean state television broadcaster. During the initial few years of independence, some independent journalism existed in Eritrea, and Seyoum participated in independent film and journalism, including the newspaper Setit, which criticised the government. Seyoum was refused funding for film equipment when he wished to film the

Eritrean–Ethiopian War The Eritrean–Ethiopian War, also known as the Badme War, was a major armed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea that took place from May 1998 to June 2000. The war has its origins in a territorial dispute between the two states. After Erit ...

during 1998–2000, and was not allowed to travel to the war front. Seyoum became critical of the war.

Imprisonment

Seyoum was arrested on 18 or 21 September 2001 along with 10 other media professionals when prominent members of the

People's Front for Democracy and Justice The People's Front for Democracy and Justice ( ti, ህዝባዊ ግንባር ንደሞክራስን ፍትሕን, PFDJ) is the founding, ruling, and sole legal political party of the State of Eritrea. The successor to the left-wing nationalist ...

(PFDJ) and military called for democracy. Seyoum himself had published his opinion in favour of a transition to democracy. In 2002, Seyoum, Fessehaye "Joshua" Yohannes and several other Eritrean prisoners started a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

, demanding to appear before a court. In April 2002, Seyoum and the others were transferred to secret prisons in the Eritrean prison system. In 2003, Seyoum was moved to Eiraeiro prison. , he was held in cell No. 10 of block A01. One or two years later, he refused to cooperate with prison guards and was trying to hunger strike, and stated, "I did my duty", "It is my responsibility" and "I don't care if I die here." In 2013, Seyoum's niece, Vanessa Tsehaye, started the ''One Day Seyoum'' campaign to free him and other Eritrean political prisoners.

References

External links

Jailed Eritrean wins media prize
BBC News, 6 December 2007

1952 births Living people Eritrean journalists Male journalists {{Eritrea-writer-stub