188 Writers Demand Proof 12 Eritrean Writers Held Since 2001 Are Alive

188 writers, including Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and J.M. Coetzee, signed a letter dated 18 September to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki demanding immediate, verified proof they are alive for 12 writers held incommunicado, with no contact, since 2001. 25 years after Eritrea shut the independent press, naming poet Amanuel Asrat and journalist Dawit Isaak among the disappeared.