Isaak Promised a Trial in Eritrea

Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak will get a trial in Eritrea, the country's ambassador to Brussels told a Swedish member of the EU Parliament Wednesday.

MEP Eva-Britt Svensson told newspaper Smålandsposten that the ambassador still would not recognise Isaak's Swedish citizenship, however. She called the promise of a trial a breakthrough given the tone of previous talks about Isaak.

"At earlier meetings, Eritrean officials have had a pretty aggressive attitude," Svensson told the newspaper.

Svensson told Sveriges Radio that she did not press the ambassador on when the trial would be held. She said they would meet again to discuss the issue.

Journalist Isaak, who has both Swedish and Eritrean citizenship and who has lived here, was imprisoned in 2001 after his newspaper published an appeal for democratic reforms in the country.

Nearly nine years later Swedish media have taken up his cause.