Dawit Isaak is a playwright, writer and journalist. He was arrested one morning in Eritrea on September 23, 2001 after the newspaper he was a partner in published a call for demands for democratic reform.

He has since been detained without trial. No formal accusation has been made against him.

Sweden's only prisoner of conscience

According to Eritrea, the case is an internal concern that has to do with the country's security. It is not taken into account that he has a Swedish passport, as dual citizenship is not accepted in Eritrea.

Dawit Isaak is the only journalist with dual citizenship from the EU whom the human rights organization Amnesty describes as a prisoner of conscience.

Sweden applies silent diplomacy

The support association for Dawit Isaak, human rights and press freedom organizations and the media has pushed for him to be released.

Sweden applies silent diplomacy in the case, which makes it difficult to follow the diplomatic game that is ongoing to get rid of him. The government's strategy has been criticized for being insufficient.

Dawit Isaac - a timeline
  • 1964: Dawit Isaak was born on October 27, 1964 in the country that would later be called Eritrea.
  • 1980s: As an adult, he works as a writer and playwright. During the 1980s, the fighting between the guerrillas and the occupying power of Ethiopia intensified.
  • 1987: Dawit Isaak flees to Sweden and settles in Lerum outside Gothenburg. There he provides himself as a cleaner. In Sweden he starts to get involved in a free Eritrea.
  • 1992: Dawit Isaak becomes Swedish citizen.
Eritrea becomes independent

  • 1993: A referendum is held and Eritrea becomes independent. Dawit Isaak returns to his former homeland. He later marries and has children.

  • 1996: New press law in Eritrea allows private newspapers.

  • 1997: The country's first independent newspaper Setit starts. Dawit Isaak becomes a profiled writer and co-owner. He writes about culture and conducts scrutiny of local journalism.

New war breaks out

  • 1998: A new war between Ethiopia and Eritrea breaks out. Dawit Isaak returns to Sweden.

  • 2000: Isaak's wife and his three children join Sweden.

  • 2001: Dawit Isaak travels back to Eritrea. In the country, the political situation is very unstable.

Dawit Isaak is imprisoned

  • June 2001: Isaak's newspaper Setit publishes a letter in which politicians and ministers openly criticize President Isaias Afwerki. A few months later, all independent newspapers are banned.

  • September 23, 2001: Eleven of the politicians who criticize the president, as well as ten journalists, are arrested. One of them is Dawit Isaak.

  • 2001: Sweden begins to press early, but is refused to meet Dawit Isaak in prison.

Attention in Sweden

  • 2002: Only now in Swedish media is it noticed that a Swedish journalist is imprisoned in Eritrea.

  • 2003: The increased attention in Swedish media creates irritation in Eritrea, according to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dawit Isaak gets Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Award the same year.

  • 2005: Sweden begins to apply silent diplomacy. Now it is no longer possible to find out what is being done to get him free.

Dawit Isaak is released from prison

  • November 19, 2005: Dawit Isaak released from prison. He calls home and the message of joy spreads quickly in Sweden. But soon the message came from Eritrean authorities that Dawit Isaak is back in prison. No one has heard from him since. According to Eritrea, Isaak had never been released; he had only been granted permission for a health check.

  • 2008: According to information, Dawit Isaak has been transferred from the prison in Asmara to a notorious prison outside the capital.

  • 2009: The European Parliament nominates Dawit Isaak for the Sakharov Prize. However, Isaac does not win.

Eritrea: Dawit Isaac lives

  • 2010: A prison guard who escapes Eritrea says in an interview to Expressen that Dawit Isaak is alive, but that he is being held prisoner under difficult conditions and is not feeling well.

  • June 2016: Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh says in an interview with French radio station RFI that Dawit is alive. On September 22, EU parliamentarian Cecilia Wikström receives the same message from the country's presidential adviser Yemane Gebreab.

  • June 2018: The thawed relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia raise cautious hopes that Dawit Isaak may be released. 

  • October 2018: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces in Aktuellt that "we have very good reason to believe that he is alive".

New life signs

  • July 2020: The Free Dawit Support Association tells several media that they have certain information that Dawit is still alive.

Sources: Reporters Without Borders, Swedish Radio Medierna i P1, Support Association Free Dawit, TT