More than 180 writers have signed a letter to Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki calling for proof of life for 12 writers arrested in 2001. Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee join prominent writers including Colm Tóibín, Elif Shafak, Isabel Allende, Ben Okri, Yann Martel, Kamila Shamsie and Tsitsi Dangarembga in signing the letter dated 18 September, marking 25 years since a government crackdown on the independent press. It lists 12 writers who have been held incommunicado since 2001, including the poet Amanuel Asrat and playwright and journalist Dawit Isaak.
Six of the writers were profiled in the Guardian in 2015. The letter, signed by 188 writers in total, calls for “immediate, verified proof of life for all arbitrarily detained Eritrean writers and critics”. Other signatories include Andrei Kurkov, Anthony Doerr, Chloe Aridjis, Lauren Groff, Lemn Sissay, Maaza Mengiste, Madeleine Thien, Margaret Busby, Max Porter, Philippe Sands, Preti Taneja, Tice Cin and Viv Groskop.
PEN International will attempt delivery of the letter at the Eritrean embassy in London at 10am on Friday. Earlier this year, the organisation launched a petition, open to the public, which also calls for proof of life. We will continue to speak their names, and we will continue to demand the truth about what happened to them.”
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