By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A former Eritrean Finance Minister and fierce critic of the country’s President has died in prison, family source has confirmed.
Berhane Abrehe, 79, was Eritrea’s longest serving minister of finance, but he was sacked in 2012 following disagreement with President Isaias Afwerki.
He was jailed six years later following the release of a book where he described the President as a “dictator” who needed to quit office.
According to the family source, authorities had notified them of Berhane’s death in custody.
Berhane’s family also says there is a plan to bury him in Asmara Patriots Cemetery.
His body has not yet been released, his family said, and it is not clear when the circumstances surrounding the death of the former Minister. He was never charged before the court for any offence.
Like most African leaders, President Isaias has ruled the East African country, without holding national elections, since winning the independence war against Ethiopia in 1991.
Political parties, civic organisation and independent media are all banned.
The UN and human rights groups have long accused the Eritrean government of gross human rights violations, including torture, forced disappearance and the imprisonment of tens of thousands of people in inhumane conditions.
Berhane’s fall-out with President Isaias began during the former’s 12-year tenure as finance minister, in which he urged Mr Isaias for transparency on the country’s budget. The budget is still inaccessible to the public till today.
In 2012, Mr Berhane was removed from his post and sidelined from politics.
Three years later he wrote a two-volume book named My Country, and sent it abroad to be published.
Alongside calling his old boss a dictator and demanding he resign, Mr Berhane used the book to challenge Mr Isaias to a debate on national television.
In 2018, after Berhane had published My Country, he was detained and imprisoned in an unknown location.
