Yacob Ghebremedhin, Eritrean government supporter, was sentenced to 22 months in prison on Tuesday by Isleworth County Court for threatening to kill Amanuel Eyassu, journalist and editor, of Assena foundation.
Yacob Ghebremedhin had attacked me at the British Library in 2018 – throwing a mess of flour and liquid over me. I was not hurt and I have not been intimidated into silence on Eritrean human rights. He was taken to court and found guilty – having to pay damages to me.
Yacob Ghebremedhin went on to threaten, and then attack Amanuel Eyasu, who is a brave journalist and editor with Assena TV. He was found guilty of these offenses and given a Restraining Order which meant he was not to threaten Amanuel Eyasu again.
As I understand it, Yacob Ghebremedhin visited Eritrea but continued to threaten to attack the Assena editor. He was arrested, found guilty and sentenced to 22 months in prison.
Martin
Below are the previous stories.
Last November, Amanuel Eyasu, editor of Assena TV was attacked, allegedly by Eritrean pro-government thugs – including Yacob Gebremedhin.
Today Yacob Gebremedhin’s trial resumes.
Last November’s attack came almost a year after a similar attack on the journalist, Martin Plaut.
Here is a summary of both stories.
Over two hours of CCTV and police body camera footage is today being scrutinized by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and barristers at ‘silver circle’ international law firm Mishcon de Raya following a magistrates instruction to further investigate the series of attacks by supporters of the Eritrean Government.
The CPS and private barristers are prosecuting Yacob Gebremedhin for assault following attacks on the editor of Assenna TV, Amanuel Eyasu. The decision on the 12th December to set a new court date to further investigate not only Gebremedhin, who pleaded guilty, but also those who aided the attack and filmed it.
Under joint enterprise laws those who assist a crime can also be found guilty if they in any way assisted in committing that crime. The increasing frequency and brazen nature of the attacks has led to growing concern about the group of attackers. Stratford Magistrates Court will hear the case a second time on the 18th February 2020 at 10am.
The video evidence is being used to investigate the nature and identity of the group of attackers. Legal teams are currently analysing the extensive footage to determine who Gebremedhin plotted with to trick journalist Amanuel Gebrekidan into meeting with the attackers by pretending to have information for Assenna TV.
Those who cheered Gebremedhin on had clear political motivation and filmed the attack in order to create propaganda materials and intimidate those who speak out against the repressive Eritrean regime.
At the magistrates direction, Crown Prosecution Service and private barriers working together will put forward extensive evidence and analysis showing criminal culpability for a persistent group of attackers who have repeatedly attempted to stifle journalistic freedoms and freedom of speech in the UK.
Increasing concern over the behavior of this group of attackers led to the Parliamentary Researcher and Coordinator of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Eritrea attending the hearing to report to MPs on any political dimension that trial may have uncovered.
The growing concern in legal and political circles over the continued brazen attacks has led to increase scrutiny of pro-Eritrean regime groups and may lead to bolder steps being taken by judges and government in the future.
The supporter of Eritrean government assaulted British journalist
The supporter of Eritrean government assaulted a British journalist, Martin Plaut on November 30th, 2018 at the British Library London, UK. The attack…
The supporter of Eritrean government assaulted a British journalist, Martin Plaut on November 30th, 2018 at the British Library London, UK. The attacker was arrested and charged by the police for his unlawful act.
Source: Human Rights Concern Eritrea
British Journalist Martin Plaut was assaulted by an Eritrean government supporter on Friday, 30th November at the British Library in London, United Kingdom. The Eritrean, Yacob Ghebremedhin, was later arrested and charged by police for his unlawful actions.
Mr. Gebremedhin is married with three children. By his own admission, he was planning to repatriate to Eritrea on Tuesday 4th December, and had planned to assault Mr Plaut before doing so. In a live online chat, he said he attacked Mr. Plaut because he wrote ill about Eritrea and called its President ‘dictator’.
Martin Plaut is Senior Researcher fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. He was the Africa Editor of the BBC World Service News until 2013, and has written about Eritrea for many years.
Mr. Gebremedhin planned his assault for weeks. He attempted to get Martin Plaut’s home address, but could not find it, and finally, managed to find his contact number and pretend to know someone who had valuable information on the human rights situation in Eritrea. He requested to meet Mr Plaut, and he planned his assault with two accomplices, Mr. Alula Abraha and Mr. Daniel. While Mr. Gebremedhin was assaulting Mr. Plaut the two accomplices were filming the assault, and later posted the videos on social media.
It is clear that his ethical stand on the activities of the Eritrean regime has angered them, possibly because it his revealed the truth about the Eritrean government’s activities.
In the context of the attacks by foreign agents on the Scripolls in Salisbury earlier this year, it is important to state publicly the total unacceptability on the United Kingdom soil of such unprovoked attacks by an Eritrean government supporter on a journalist and a British citizen.
Moreover, the following tweet by Ambassador Estifanos Afewerk, Eritrea’s Ambassador to Japan, the day after the incident regarding what is essentially an unjustifiable assault within the sovereign territory of another state implies approval on the part of the government of Eritrea.
Pelted with fresh eggs/milk in London. @Martinplaut disguised propaganda as news since PM Meles #Ethiopia declared war on #Eritrea in 2008. – Ambassador Estifanos
The Facebook message below is by Mr. Sirak Bahlbi, an Eritrean diplomat in charge of Public and Community Affairs at the Eritrean Embassy in Sweden. Mr. Bahlbi is calling Mr. Gebremedhin “the Eritrean Hero” for assaulting a British journalist.
Furthermore, first hand video evidence obtained by Human Rights Concern Eritrea (HRCE), and Facebook postings by Eritrean government supporters confirm they are planning to attack and assault on several human rights activists in the diaspora, including HRCE’s UK-based director, Elizabeth Chyrum and Meron Estifanos, who lives in the Sweden. The supporters say that now that sanctions against Eritrea have been lifted, their next mission is to physically assault and silence anyone who criticizes the Eritrean government or write ill about the Eritrean President.
In Facebook and Paltalk chat rooms, the Eritrean government’s supporters have praised the assailant as a hero and are eager to go out and attack government critics and activists.
It is hardly necessary to remind the world that extra-judicial attacks, torture and killings of innocent citizens by the regime occur frequently in Eritrea. It was perhaps because Martin Plaut has so often revealed the truth about such violence and killings by the Eritrean state that he is the subject of such hate and aggression by the regime and its supporters.
The aggression and violence which is the hallmark of the Eritrean government, and which was clearly condoned in a tweet by its diplomats, must not and cannot be tolerated in the UK.
The following messages shared on Facebook live by government supporters are exemplar of what will occur routinely in the UK if action is not taken to appraise Eritrean government supporters in no uncertain terms that their actions s will not be tolerated in a democratic society.
Statement from the Assena Foundation on the unprovoked attack on TV editor
Unprovoked attack on Amanuel: Second Hearing – Stratford Magistrate Court, London
It is to be recalled that Mr Yacob Gebremedhin, who has a criminal history, attacked Amanuel Eyus, the Founder and Editor of Assenna, on 26 November 2019. At the first hearing on 12 December, Mr Gebremedhin pleaded guilty to an unprovoked attack on Amanuel. The judge deferred sentencing to 18 February 2020 to give the police and Crown Prosecution Service time to gather additional evidence, including CCTV footage from Putney Bridge Station where the attack took place.
The second hearing took place at 10:00 hours London time this morning. In summing up the hearing the judge said this was a callous and sinister attack not only on Amanuel but on members of the general public. She added, this was a serious matter, especially for someone to commit the same crime twice within a 12-month period. The judge, having viewed the CCTV footage, was satisfied it was a planned and pre-mediated group attack. Accordingly, Mr Gebremedhin was found guilty of Category 1 crime and handed down the following sentence:
- A sixteen weeks custodial sentence – this was suspended for 2 years. In the event Mr Gebremedhin commits any further crime, he will serve the full 16 weeks in prison in addition to any sentence relating to other crime he commits;
- Thirty days criminal electronic tagging – Mr Gebremedhin will be electronically tagged on his leg from 19 hours to 7am each day so the police can monitor his where abouts. If he breaches this, he will be locked up for 16 weeks;
- A five-year restraint order – Mr Gebremedhin is restrained from contacting Amanuel by all means, including social media, for a period of 5 years. If he breaches this, he can be locked up for 16 weeks. [Since the hearing and at a restaurant in North London this afternoon, Mr Gebremedhin has breached this restraint and the evidence has been passed to the police]; and
- Pay £600 compensation to Amanuel – Mr Gebremedhin pleaded destitute without any money to support himself (including his wife and three children) and that he was entirely dependent on handouts from others – with no job or anything else that sustains a law abiding individual. The judge, taking pity of these sad mitigating factors, ruled for the payment to be paid in instalments, with the first instalment of £150 due on 1 April 2020.
After the hearing and oblivious of the seriousness of Mr Gebremdhin’s sentence, his supporters waiving our national flag (for which our brothers and sisters died so we can be free) chanted jubilation. The feeling of indignation on the face of justice seekers was everywhere to see. How can we educate these zombies the reality of life was the question that kept cropping up to mind? Here you have a 50-year-old man with a series of crimes that make him frankly unemployable for the rest of his life, even as a min-cab driver, and yet people celebrate his sentence.
In his statement, Mr Gebremedhin admitted a group attack i.e. he had 2 or 3 people involved with him in the attack. Unfortunately, this did not come up in the cross-examination at the court this morning, although the CCTV footage showed the images of all members of the group.
I have; therefore, this afternoon instructed our lawyers to contact the police and CPS to ask them to identify the other 2 or 3 individuals concerned and demand they are persecuted. My fear is that if they go free this time, they will attack others. They are violent individuals that must be brought to justice and punished for their action so they do not attack others again.
The message I want us to send loud and clear is that if any PFDJ thug attacks any Eritrean, we will be on the side of the victim and bring the attackers to justice – no matter the cost. Our people have already suffered enough. These attackers are bloodsuckers – if they are so passionate about Eritrea, why are they here?
Attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. We will fight injustice with justice because as patriotic Eritreans we do not believe in attacking our fellow citizens.
Enough is enough.
Habte Hagos
Chair of Assenna Foundation Ltd
18 February 2020
Martin Plaut 
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div dir=”ltr”>Dear Martin,
Ai heavy. I was not aware of the attack in
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div>2018