Human Rights Watch began its global #FreeThem campaign this week, a campaign aiming to recognise human rights defenders who they say have been unjustly jailed worldwide.
The campaign will highlight one individual story a week of the thousands of human rights defenders that are imprisoned. The stories first appear on the Human Rights Watch website before being posted to Twitter with the hashtag #FreeThem.
European Media Director of HRW Andrew Stroehlein said that there are many cases of imprisonment of human rights defenders that have no clarity.
“Some of these people… they’ve been in prison for 10, 20 years even, and in some cases we’re not even sure if they’re alive,” he said.
“The government won’t even tell us if they’re alive. We just want to highlight their plight. And we want to get them some of the recognition that their cases deserve”.
The first individual case HRW highlighted is the journalist and former war photographer Seyoum Tsehaye from Eritrea, an African country that shares borders with Sudan to the west and Ethiopia to the south.
Seyoum Tsehaye was arrested in the Eritrean capital of Asmara in September 2001 after the government held a crackdown of opposing voices.
Tsehaye has not been seen since.
There have been no government trials and while he has at times been thought to be dead, HRW have reason to believe that now at 66, Tsehaye is believed to still be alive.
In 2007, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) named Tsehaye as journalist of the year.
HRW calls on individuals such as High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Fredrica Mogherini to put pressure on Eriteria’s government to immediately release Tsehaye.
Human Rights Watch has offices all over the globe, including one in Sydney.
They have been vocal about Australia’s inability to abide by international safety standards for asylum seekers and refugees as well as providing equal rights for the LGBT community.
Correction: an earlier version of the story states Sudan is to the east of Eritrea.
