Eritrea Naizghi Kiflu, the dictatorship’seminence grise

Mr Kiflu’s alleged crimes

Excerpt from Naizgi Kiflu is returning to Eritrea from London by Human Rights Concern – Eritrea
2 May 2008[.http://cs.asmarino.com/?itemid=936]

Mr Kiflu is reported to be a well known criminal who has put many people in jail without any due legal process and has inflicted torture and pain on innocent people. Although it is difficult to prove most of his crimes, at least three people gave evidence to Metropolitan Police and many others spoke to Elizabeth Chyrum of their experiences of Mr Kiflu’s cruelty.

To mention just some of his crimes:

1. According to two ex-prisoners’ testimonies:

In January 1996, Mr Kiflu went to ADI- QUALA prison and 148 prisoners were called to come out of their prison cells, and they were gathered in the prison compound heavily guarded. Then Mr Kiflu loudly started reading the life prison sentence by calling all the 148 prisoners’ name.

Mr Kiflu also read out prison sentences for another group of 85 prisoners on the same day. Those people were sentenced from 10-15 years starting from April 1995, although they were detained well before that.

He also read out prison sentences of 8-10 years for 135 prisoners starting from the day they were detained.

Some of the prisoners have since died due to the harsh prison conditions.

2. Mr Kiflu was the Information Minister when all the independent newspapers were closed down, and twelve or more journalists were arrested in September 2001. They are still detained incommunicado, and the newspapers remain closed. It is said that he is responsible for their arrest and for closing the independent media.

3. On 15 May 2002, Mr Kiflu was still the Information Minister and he summoned all the evangelical church leaders and ordered them to close their churches. In that meeting he told them to execute the order, otherwise, if they protest, he told them that he would record their reactions and whatever they say could be used against them at any stage. Pastor Haile Naizghi, Dr Kiflu Gebremeskel and Pastor Tesfatsion Hagos were very vocal and expressed their disagreement. It was reported that they were arrested by his direct order in May 2004.

4. Mr Kiflu also ordered the arrest of three Orthodox Church priests in November 2004. The names of the priests are: Rev. Dr Futsum Gebremedhin (Eritrea’s only psychiatrist), Rev. Dr Tekleab Mengisteab (a medical doctor) and Rev. Gebremedhin Gebreghiorgis (a prominent theologian).

5. He also ordered the arrest of an official of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church in 2004.

While he has been enjoying a comfortable life with his family in a house valued at about £300,000 or more in London, those victims of his we have mentioned above are still detained incommunicado under harsh conditions, their children are orphaned and their wives are living in misery.

There are many more horrifying stories about Mr Kiflu. With time all those who are withholding information for fear of repercussions will hopefully come forward to tell about their experiences of the torture inflicted by this cruel and barbaric man. With his current plan to return to Eritrea, he will still continue to inflict torture and pain with impunity.

It is unfortunate that the British legal system have not managed to persecute him. Those who witnessed his crimes or who were themselves victims of this cruel man in the past could have made a difference to the outcome of the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision.

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea
2 May 2008
London, U.K.