The Horn of Africa country has been ruled with an iron fist by President Isaias Afwerki, 79, since independence from Ethiopia in 1993 and ranks near the bottom of every rights indicator.

Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE) welcomed the release last week of 13 people, including an ex-Olympian and former police officers, who had been imprisoned for nearly 18 years without charge, trial, or access to a lawyer.

“Throughout their detention, many of them suffered solitary confinement and conditions amounting to torture,” it said in a statement, describing conditions as “notoriously inhumane”.

It said during their detention in Mai Serwan prison, near the capital Asmara, some had been confined to metal containers where temperatures fluctuated between extreme heat and bitter cold.

While welcoming the release — which it said occurred after considerable delays — the NGO warned Eritrea still held “over 10,000 prisoners of conscience”.

And it noted that the “broader human rights crisis remains unchanged”.

HRCE urged the international community, including the African Union, the United States, and the United Nations, to put pressure on Eritrea to end “its widespread, systematic human rights violations and to establish accountability mechanisms for past and ongoing abuses”.

Dissenting voices in the country, home to around 3.5 million, disappear into prison camps, and civilians face military conscription or forced labour, which the United Nations says amounts to slavery.

Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel did not respond immediately when asked by AFP about the number of prisoners of conscience in the country and their detention conditions.

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