Press Freedom in Eritrea — Exhibition and Webinar

Yirgalem Fiseha Mebrahtu (panelist) is a writer and award-winning poet. She was born in 1981 and raised in Eritrea. Living in Munich, Germany since December 2018, she is a scholarship holder and a writer in Exile for Pen Germany. She published her work extensively in Eritrea’s mass media since the heyday of the private newspaper era. She was a co-founder of the well-known literary association, “the Literary Club of Adi-keyh.” She went to Asmara Teachers Training Institute (ATTI). From September 2003 until the Government raided banned, and arrested all the staff in February 2009, Yirgalem worked as a producer and host at the educational Radio Bana. She spent six years (2009-2015) in the infamous Mai-serwa military prison, in Eritrea where she was subjected to physical torture and interrogation. Yirgalem was arrested for another four months in 2016/2017 for trying to escape from her country. She left Eritrea in March 2018.

In 2019 on International Women’s Day, PEN International featured Yirgalem as one of five writers who are changing the rules.. She received Pen Eritrea’s Freedom of Expression Award in 2019. She received Erisat satellite’s MMY Independent Journalism and Courage award in 2022. The Vaclav Havel Library Foundation shortlisted her for their Disturbing the Peace Award in 2020 and 2021. She published a poetry book, “ኣለኹ/Still I’m Alive,” in 2019 and a collection of stories and essays from prison, “ዘይበረየ ጐድነይ/My Unresting Side,” in 2022 (both books are in Tigrinya). She has published her poems, stories, and essays on various websites, and performed her work on international platforms. Some of her writings are translated into German and English.

Samuel Ghebrehiwet (panelist): Samuel Ghebrehiwet was a freedom fighter, journalist, songwriter, author and film producer. He worked at the Eritrean Ministry of Information from 1994 to 2000. He left Eritrea and went into exile in 2002. Since then, he has lived in the diaspora and continued working as a freelancer with various Eritrea media outlets. He joined and led BBC Tigrinya since its birth as an Editor in Chief from 2016 to 2021 from Nairobi, Kenya. Now he works as a freelancer to the BBC and runs a YouTube channel called Dehay Eritrea documenting historic events in the UK.

Robel Asrat Mebrahtu (panelist) is the youngest brother of Amanuel Asrat, one of the Eritrean journalists who have languished in jail for the last 21 years since being taken from his home by the Eritrean Government Intelligence on September 23, 2001. Robel was born and raised in Asmara, Eritrea. He fled Eritrea in 2010. He currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts where he graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a BS in Business Intelligence and now works in tech as Data Analyst. Robel has been advocating for the release of his brother Amanuel, who was the Chief Editor of a privately-owned newspaper called Zemen, and all other Eritrean journalists since 2010. He has spoken at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Human Rights Watch, VOA and other medias.

Meron Semedar (panelist): A former refugee from Eritrea, a human rights and international refugee advocate. Meron has addressed the UN, USCIS, One Young World, many universities and communities on the global refugee crisis and human rights in Eritrea. His works have been featured in Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, the G7G20, the International Organization for Migrants (IOM), African Voice, BBC Tigrinya, Voice of America and SBS Australia. A short version of his story has been published in a book called Refugees in America in 2019. He holds a South African degree in Civil Engineering, M.A. in International Studies from the University of San Francisco and is currently a Master of Public Affairs (MPA) student at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy. Meron serves as an Ambassador for the Global Peace Index, the Refugee Nation and One Young World. He works as a student advisor to Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the Center for African Studies at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Jennifer Riggan (moderator) is Professor of International Studies, Director of the International Studies program, and the current Steinbrucker Endowed Chair at Arcadia University. She is the author of The Struggling State: Nationalism, Mass Militarization and the Education of Eritrea (2016). Her second book, The Hosting State and Its Restless Guests: Time-Making, Mobility and Containment Among Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia, co-authored with Amanda Poole is forthcoming. She has held fellowships from the Wolf Humanities Center (2020-¬2021), The Georg Arnhold Program (2019), Fulbright (Addis Ababa University 2016¬-2017 & Asmara University 2004-¬2005), The Spencer Foundation/ National Academy of Education (2012-¬2014) and the Social Science Research Council (2004-¬2005). Her most recent research project explores how Eritreans in the United States experience and make sense of the concept of freedom.

Co-sponsoring departments and organizations:

• At UC Berkeley
  • The Center for African Studies
  • The Graduate School of Journalism
  • The Goldman School of Public Policy
  • African American Studies and African Diaspora Studies
  • UC Berkeley Law School
  • The Othering and Belonging Institute
  • Human Rights Center
  • MPAs for Justice Empowerment
• Pen Eritrea
• ERISAT Media
• Setit Media
• ASSENNA TV