A quarter-century has passed since Eritrea’s ruling government swept away a group of senior reformist politicians, but for Hanna Petros Solomon, the pain of that moment remains as sharp as ever. In an emotional interview with the BBC, she broke down recalling how she and her three siblings effectively became orphans after her father was arrested and jailed without trial, followed months later by her mother — neither of whom the family has heard from since.
Hanna was just 10 years old when she last saw her father, Petros Solomon. She remembers him leaving the house that September morning in 2001, a towel slung over his shoulders, heading out for his daily morning workout like he always did. Petros Solomon was no ordinary citizen: alongside Hanna’s mother Aster Yohannes, he had fought in Eritrea’s decades-long war of independence from Ethiopia, emerging as a senior leader and national hero for his critical role in securing the country’s freedom in 1993. After independence, he served sequentially as defense minister, foreign minister, and eventually head of the fisheries ministry, and had even met former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton during his time in office.
In May 2001, Petros Solomon joined 14 other high-profile Eritrean politicians to sign an open letter to then-and-current President Isaias Afewerki. The letter called for the implementation of the post-independence ratified constitution and demanded long-promised national elections. The group became known as the G-15, and their public criticism of Isaias’ authoritarian rule did not go unanswered.
While the world was distracted by the September 11 al-Qaeda attacks on the U.S., the Eritrean government moved to eliminate the G-15 opposition. In the early hours of September 18, security forces deployed outside the homes of 11 senior G-15 officials in the capital Asmara, acting on direct orders from the president. Petros Solomon was arrested by agents as he left his house that morning, still in his tracksuit.
At the time of the arrest, Aster Yohannes was studying in the U.S., so Hanna and her siblings went to stay with their paternal grandmother. It did not take long for the cruelty of the situation to sink in for a 10-year-old Hanna: “My classmates told me that my father sold out his country. That is when I understood how serious the situation was, and how people framed my dad and his colleagues who fought for the independence of their country. I was hurt.”
From the U.S., Aster was devastated by news of her husband’s disappearance. She requested that the Eritrean government issue passports for her children so they could join her, but officials refused and demanded she return to Eritrea. After two years of agonizing waiting, and reportedly receiving assurances of her safety directly from President Isaias, she agreed to come home. On December 11, 2003, Hanna and her siblings waited for Aster at Asmara International Airport, holding flowers to welcome her. But she never emerged through the arrivals gate. Friends confirmed she had boarded her flight in the U.S., and eventually airport officials called to ask that someone collect Aster’s unclaimed luggage. The family soon learned she had been detained upon arrival.
In the months that followed, all of the family’s requests for information about their missing parents were ignored, and authorities even warned Hanna’s grandmother to stop asking questions. Later, the family learned Aster was being held in the infamous Karshelli prison in central Asmara, while Petros and the other G-15 members arrested in September 2001 were believed to be held in the remote, highly secretive Ela-Ero prison in Eritrea’s eastern lowlands. Accused of treason, none of the G-15 have ever been put on trial or allowed to receive visits from family members. At the same time the G-15 were arrested, the government shut down all of Eritrea’s fledgling independent newspapers and detained their editors and journalists, who are also believed to be held in Ela-Ero.
The Eritrean government, including its embassy in the U.K., has never responded to the BBC’s repeated requests for comment on the whereabouts of the detained G-15 members or whether any of them are still alive.
Like thousands of other young Eritreans fleeing forced conscription and political repression, Hanna eventually left Eritrea, crossing the border secretly without a passport. Now 35, she lives in the U.S., where she works as a trauma specialist — though she says she still carries the trauma of losing her parents. She often stares at old family photos, worried that her memories of happy days before the arrests — family gatherings, birthday parties, her father’s car singing competitions on coastal trips, her mother’s famous egg and potato sandwiches — will fade over time. For Hanna, September, once a month filled with the joy of Orthodox Christian festivals and the Geez New Year, now brings only pain.
Hanna is not alone in her grief. Ibrahim Sherifo, now 38 and living in exile in the Netherlands where he holds asylum, also lost both of his parents, who were senior members of the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice and part of the G-15. He was just 13 when security agents knocked on the door early one morning and took his mother away in her pyjamas, and learned his father had already been arrested while out for his morning exercise. “For me 18 September 2001 is a dark day, but not only for me, it is a dark day for Eritrea and its people, because it is the day when law and democracy was detained,” he told the BBC.
Both Hanna and Ibrahim say they are forever grateful to the friends and family who supported them as they grew up without their parents, despite the risks of aiding the family of political dissidents. They are also proud of their parents’ courage to demand reform in a country that had only just won its independence. “They had conscience and couldn’t observe idly while what they fought for had been hijacked by Isaias and his coterie,” Ibrahim says. He accuses the Eritrean government of seeking to erase all memory of the G-15 political prisoners, and says the very least the family deserves is to know whether their loved ones are still alive.
Hanna echoes that call, and also demands that the world hear the stories of thousands of other Eritreans whose relatives have disappeared over the decades under Isaias’ rule. International human rights groups, including the United Nations, recognize the G-15 as prisoners of conscience and have repeatedly called for their release. Now 80 years old, Isaias Afewerki has still never implemented the 1997 constitution he promised to bring into force, and has held onto power for three decades without ever holding a national election.
Looking back to the eve of her father’s arrest, Hanna recalls a childhood premonition of what was to come. She had a bad feeling, crept into her father’s bed while he slept, and tied his legs to her own with string. In the morning, he woke up, pulled her leg to free himself, and laughed when she begged him not to leave. He assured her he would be back after his run.
In the 25 years since that morning, Hanna describes her life as like living deep under the sea. “Sometimes it is calm and you can float, but other times the sorrow comes back to you like a wave and drowns you deep down. Sometimes you lose hope and you are out of breath.”
When asked what message she would send to her parents if she could, Hanna says: “Don’t worry about us. Like you survived the struggle through sheer steadfastness, we hope you can pull through this too and return to us.”