A/HRC/23/53 wire and was electrocuted. Her friend, who was trying to rescue her, also died. When students die in Sawa, their bodies are buried in a graveyard with no tombstones. Parents are rarely informed about the death of a child. B. Enforced disappearances and incommunicado detention 45. Relatives of those who are arrested and detained are rarely informed, but tend to find out by chance through other detainees who have been released. In addition, Eritrean nationals who are repatriated after a failed refugee or asylum application usually disappear upon their return. The practice of enforced disappearance is used to intimidate people, to install a climate of fear and to deter people from claiming their rights. 46. While unknown numbers of Eritreans have disappeared, the most prominent cases include 11 political leaders, members of the “G-15”, and 10 journalists, all of whom were arrested in 2001. To date, the Government has refused to provide any information on their fate. 47. The reluctance to give any indication about the above group and about the thousands of others who have disappeared is distressing, and points to a total disregard for the principle of accountability and respect for international human rights law. The Government of Eritrea needs to tell family members and the international community whether they are still alive. In the meetings of the Special Rapporteur with Eritrean delegates, she endeavoured to ask, where (if the answer was yes) these persons were and about their current state of health. She asked whether they had access to medical care, if needed. Families should be allowed to meet them. In addition, she asked why, after 12 years, they had not been brought before an independent court of law to be charged with a crime recognized under international law. To date, the Special Rapporteur has not received any answer to her questions. 48. There have been thousands of victims of enforced disappearance or incommunicado detention in Eritrea. There are those who disappeared at one point in time and subsequently reappeared with stories of incommunicado incarceration and torture or who remain silent because of threats to their lives or their family if they were to speak. There are those who never return and about whom nothing is ever heard. And there are those who disappear and whose dead bodies are returned. The consequences of the absence of the disappeared person can have a serious impact on the whole family, with women and children bearing the brunt because of their vulnerable situations. C. Arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and prison conditions 49. Government officials, zonal administrators, community and religious leaders, businesspeople, journalists and teachers, as well as ordinary citizens expressing critical views or posing questions, have been jailed for explicit or inferred opposition to the Government or its policies. Mere suspicion appears to be enough for somebody to be subjected to interrogation and detention without charge or without being brought before a court of law. The number of Eritreans jailed for their perceived political opposition is difficult to confirm, but may be as high as 10,000.4 They are often held indefinitely without access to family members or lawyers, and there are no court appearances or public trials. 50. From several accounts, it would appear that the modus operandi adopted involves detainees being arrested at night, or kidnapped, blindfolded and driven around before being 4 10 A/HRC/WG.6/6/ERI/3, para. 15.