Students' Union President Arrest in Asmara Fans Popular Outrage against Government    

     Addis Ababa, August 3 (ENA) The Student Union of Orebro in Sweden strongly denounced the arrest of Semere Kesete, president of the Students' Union of the University of Asmara, Eritrea.

 Semere Kesete was arrested from his home by national security agents on Tuesday, July 31st, which was followed by expression of grievances from various corners inside and outside of Eritrea.

 In a press release, the Orebro Student Union said that the university students who openly manifested their reservation against using students as forced labor in all its forms have the academic and conventional rights to be taken seriously in a democratic way.  

The release referring to forced labor convention, 1930/29 and abolition of forced labor convention, 1957/105 said it was any man’s legitimate responsibility to protest against forced labor.

 Eritrea should respect that human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech, expression, movement and other human and democratic rights, the release said. 

Similarly, the Students’ Union of the University of Asmara demanded that concerned authorities in Eritrea give an official statement of Semere’s present condition and whereabouts. 

In a message posted on the Internet, the Union’s council last Wednesday said, "should Semere be accused of any crime, his constitutional rights be respected and his case be presented to the court."

 The students’ council called for Semere’s immediate release and requested an official reason for his arrest. The government has not made any official statement regarding Semere’s arrest. 

The students said, "Semere’s arrest is a serious violation of student rights… (And, they) see the arrest as an escalation of violations by the government of Eritrea."

 Earlier on July 25, it was disclosed that security forces abducted Editor- in- Chief of an independent Eritrean weekly newspaper Mattewos Habteab, and his whereabouts is still unknown. Some 15 other journalists had also been reported missing. 

The Eritrean government in the past has responded to inquiries about disappeared journalists that the journalists have been sent to the front-line to "fulfill their national service obligation". 

"The arrest of the editor and the circular the government gave all members of the Eritrean Defense Force to limit their communication to the government owned newspapers only is seen by some as a crackdown on the independent press."  

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