18 September 2026: Acclaimed writers from around the world have signed an open letter to President Isaias Afwerki, in support of PEN’s global Proof of Life campaign. Signatories include Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and J.M. Coetzee; Burhan Sonmez, President of PEN International; Rohinton Mistry, recipient of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature; Ben Okri and Yann Martel, Booker Prize winners; Tsitsi Dangarembga, recipient of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade; Isabel Allende, recipient of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters; Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize winner; and Colm Tóibín, winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, among others. The letter calls for verified proof of life for 12 Eritrean writers and journalists who have been held incommunicado since 2001 and calls for an end to 25 years of silence and enforced disappearance.
Read the letter below, and click here to view it in Italian.
Mr. President:
18 September 2026 marks exactly 25 years since your government launched a brutal crackdown on critics of your administration. Within days, Eritrea’s free press and the nation’s independent voices were systematically crushed.
The crackdown saw security forces arbitrarily arrest and detain journalists, writers, and poets who hoped to build a just, peaceful, and democratic Eritrea. We remember their names today: Amanuel Asrat; Dawit Habtemichael; Dawit Isaak; Fessehaye ‘Joshua’ Yohannes; Matheos Habteab; Medhanie Haile; Sahle ‘Wedi-ltay’ Tsegazeab; Said Abdelkadir; Said Idris ‘Abu Are’; Seyoum Tsehaye; Temesgen Ghebreyesus; and Yousif Mohammed Ali.
For a quarter of a century, these individuals have been held incommunicado and denied access to legal representation, medical care, and their loved ones. They are among the world’s longest-detained writers. Their only apparent crime was being independent voices and speaking of the Eritrea they dreamed of for the future. They should not have been detained in the first place.
The families of these writers, the Eritrean people, and the global literary community have been met with a painful and unlawful silence. To withhold all information regarding their health, location, and survival is a violation of international law and an act of cruelty.
We, the undersigned writers, journalists, poets, publishers, and human rights advocates from all corners of the world, write to you today with a single, urgent demand: provide immediate, verified proof of life for all arbitrarily detained Eritrean writers and critics.
Mr. President, Eritrea’s future must be built with its brightest minds, not based on their suppression. No writer or journalist should be disappeared for peacefully expressing their views.
We remain in solidarity with our missing colleagues, and we will not cease our efforts until they are free.
Signed by:
- Abdulai Sila, Guinea- Bissau
- Abedom Weldemariam, Luxembourg
- Abraham T. Zere, USA
- Ahdaf Soueif, United Kingdom
- Ahmed Sadeg, Sudan
- Akberet Mehari, The Netherlands
- Alfred Msadala, Malawi
- Allieu Kamara, Sierra Leone
- Alsadig Alradi, Sudan
- Anna Manso, Catalonia
- Antònia Carré-Pons, Catalonia
- Amal Akasha, Sudan
- Amani Abdelgalil, Sudan
- Aminatta Forna, United Kingdom
- Andrea Barnet, USA
- Andrei Kurkov, Ukraine
- Annie Olivier, South Africa
- Anthony Doerr, USA
- Arlin Cicekci, Türkiye
- Awet Fissehaye Mebrahtom, United Kingdom
- Awet Mengsteab, The Netherlands
- Ayi Renaud Dossavi, Togo
- Beatrice Lamwaka, Uganda
- Ben Okri, Nigeria/United Kingdom
- Bibi Burger, South Africa
- Bokre Ghebreyesus, USA
- Bongani Kona, South Africa
- Burhan Sonmez, Türkiye/United Kingdom
- Canisia Lubrin, Canada
- Carole Carcillo Mesrobian, France
- Carolyn Cohagan, USA
- Catherine Banner, United Kingdom
- Catrina Wessels, South Africa
- Charles Foran, Canada
- Chidi Anthony Opara, Nigeria
- Chloe Aridjis, United Kingdom
- Christopher McFarlane, Australia
- Colm Toibin, Ireland
- Cristina Mas, Catalonia
- Cristina Wormull Chiorrini, Chile
- Dacia Maraini, Italy
- Dan Midalia, Australia
- Daniel Kifle, United Kingdom
- Daniel Pedreira, Cuba/USA
- Daniel Semere Tesfai, Germany
- Denden Solomon, Uganda
- Dessale Berekhet Abraham, Norway
- Diane Alméras, Chile
- Dinaw Mengestu, Ethiopia/USA
- Dominique Gaucher, Canada
- Ekram Abdullah Berkia, Sudan
- Èlia Borràs, Catalonia
- Elif Shafak, Türkiye/United Kingdom
- Ellen van Pelt, Belgium
- Emad Badawi, Sudan
- Éric Brucher, Belgium
- Eric Lax, USA
- Erla Diedericks, South Africa
- Ermias Ekube, Sweden
- Faisal Elbagir, Sudan
- Fikrey Yeman, Norway
- Fr. Yonas Welderufael, Sweden
- Gemma Ruiz, Catalonia
- Germán Rojas, Chile
- Ghirmai Negash, USA
- Ghirmay Yohannes, Sweden
- Gillian Slovo, United Kingdom
- Gioconda Belli, Nicaragua
- Gloria Browne-Marshall, USA
- Hafiz Azharr Hafiz Abbas Mohmed, Sudan
- Halima Abdulazeez, Nigeria
- Hanna Komar, United Kingdom
- Helene Jaccomard, Australia
- Ibrahim Hassan (Kojan), Sudan
- Ira Wells, Canada
- Irene Pujades, Catalonia
- Isabel Allende, USA
- Ishraga Mustafa Hamid, Sudan
- Issayas Beyene, United Kingdom
- Izak de Vries, South Africa
- Izzeldin Taha, Sudan
- J M Coetzee, Australia
- James Gleick, USA
- Jennifer Clement, USA/Mexico
- Jennifer Finney Boylan, USA
- Joan-Lluís Lluís, Catalonia
- Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, USA
- John Ralston Saul, Canada
- Josephine Scicluna, Australia
- Judith Wilkinson, Australia
- Julian Fellowes, United Kingdom
- Juliet Jacques, United Kingdom
- Kamal Bashari, Sudan
- Kamila Shamsie, United Kingdom
- Kokob Tesfaldet, Sweden
- Krishna Sen, Australia
- Lakshmi Kanchi, Australia
- Lamia Gasim, Sudan
- Lars Gudmundson, Norway
- Laura Hubber, USA
- Lauren Groff, USA
- Laurie Halse Anderson, USA
- Lemn Sissay, United Kingdom
- Lesley Marshall, New Zealand
- Lila Cona, Serbia
- Linwood Barclay, Canada
- Louis de Bernieres, United Kingdom
- Louise L. Lambrichs, France
- Lydia Cacho, Mexico
- Llúcia Ramis, Catalonia
- Maaza Mengiste, Ethiopia/USA
- Madeleine Thien, Canada
- Mai Musie, United Kingdom
- Maria Climent, Catalonia
- Margaret Busby, United Kingdom
- Marian Botsford Fraser, Canada
- Màrius Serra, Catalonia
- Max Porter, United Kingdom
- Mazen Darwish, Syria
- Mekonen Tesfai, USA
- Mercy Kannemeyer, South Africa
- Merel de Beer, Netherlands
- Mihret Kebede, Austria
- Mikhail Shishkin, Russian Federation
- Mille Rode, Denmark
- Mogahid Eisa Adam, Sudan
- Mogos Okbamichael, UK
- Mohamed Alsabd, Sudan
- Mohamed Sidahmed, Sudan
- Mujtaba Mannan, Sudan
- Munyao Kilolo, Kenya
- Mussab Mohammed Ali, Sudan
- Mustafa Adam, Sudan
- Muzna Abdulrahman Mohammed, Sudan
- Nadia Davids, South Africa
- Nadifa Mohamed, United Kingdom
- Nasser Ahmedin, Norway
- Nii Ayikwei Parkes, United Kingdom
- Núria Cadenes, Catalonia
- Obinna Chilekezi Nigeria
- Olga Tokarczuk, Poland
- Osama Altayeb, Sudan
- Osama Edries, Sudan
- Osman Omer (Turath), Sudan
- Paolo Giordano, Italy
- Philip Slayton, Canada
- Philippe Sands, United Kingdom
- Preti Taneja, United Kingdom
- Rashid Sid Ahmed Elsheikh, Sudan
- Richard Stursberg, Canada
- Ricky Monahan Brown, Scotland
- Roaya Yahya Idris Okasha, Sudan
- Robin Bower, Australia
- Rohinton Mistry, India/Canada
- Rui Umezawa, Canada
- Saba Kidane, France
- Said Khatibi, Algeria
- Salil Tripathi, India/USA
- Salma Abdelazim Yousif, Sudan
- Samar Yazbek, France
- Sandro Veronesi, Italy
- Sara Hamza Aljack, Sudan
- Sebastià Alzamora, Catalonia
- Sergei Lebedev, Russia
- Shawna-Leze Meiring, South Africa
- Sheng Xue, China
- Shishai Shimondi, Germany
- Shishay Gebrehans, Sweden
- Stella Gaitano, South Sudan
- Tedros Abraham Beraki, Sweden
- Tesfit Abraham, Uganda
- Tessy Baila, Greece
- Tice Cin, United Kingdom
- Toyin Adenubi, Nigeria
- Tsegay Mehari, Sweden
- Tsitsi Dangarembga, Zimbabwe
- Viv Glance, Australia
- Viv Groskop, United Kingdom
- Wagdi Elsheikh Manssour, Sudan
- Wahab Michael- Norway
- Wolfgang Martin Roth, Austria
- Yann Martel, Canada
- Yassmin Abdel-Magied, United Kingdom
- Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu, Germany
- Yonas Haile, Sweden
- Yonatan Tsighe, USA
- Yorn Young, Cambodia
- Yousif Alhabob, Sudan
Note to editors:
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