Sweden – Expressen, May 03, 2025
Like a mantra, one government after another has referred to quiet diplomacy — which has not helped Dawit Isaak.
It is now high time for Sweden to change strategy and immediately adopt loud diplomacy toward Eritrea, write Elisabeth Löfgren and Kurdo Baksi.
Today is World Press Freedom Day.
There is every reason to highlight this day in a time when press and freedom of expression are under serious threat. Many journalists are paying a high price for defending these freedoms.
The person who has suffered the most for practicing journalism is Swedish citizen, journalist, and Gothenburg resident Dawit Isaak.
For more than 23 years, he has been denied charges, a trial, family visits, and consular access because Eritrea flagrantly violates international legal principles.
Dawit Isaak, a defender of freedom of expression, has spent more than a third of his life in prison.
During this time, much has changed in his life outside the prison walls. Dawit does not know that his mother passed away a few years ago. He does not know that he is now a grandfather to three grandchildren. He does not know that he has received several awards, including the Tucholsky Prize, the Edelstam Prize, and the UNESCO Prize.
