Eritrea: US State Department Report on Human Rights for 2011 The
Government of Eritrea is an authoritarian regime under the
control of President Isaias Afwerki. The People’s Front for
Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), headed by President Afwerki, is
the sole political party. The PFDJ has controlled the country
since 1991. Elections have not taken place since the country’s
independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Elements of the security
forces frequently and with impunity acted independently of
civilian control. There were consistent and persistent reports
of serious human rights violations. These abuses included, but
were not limited to, harsh and life-threatening prison
conditions that included torture and incommunicado detention,
which sometimes resulted in death; forced labor of indefinite
duration through the mandatory national service program; and the
severe restriction of civil liberties including freedom of
speech, press, assembly, association, and religion. Other abuses
included the following: unlawful killin