A/HRC/38/50 since November 2005 without being charged or brought to a court of law for trial. Government authorities provided no explanation regarding the cause and circumstances of his death. 56. Haile Woldetensae, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea and one of the Eritrean “G-15”, reportedly died while in custody in January 2018. His remains are believed to have been buried by four prison guards. He had been held incommunicado and in solitary confinement since September 2001, without being charged or tried. There has been no official confirmation of his death and family members in exile have appealed to the Eritrean authorities to confirm his death. The Eritrean G-15 was a group of prominent politicians arrested in September 2001 and held incommunicado since then. Several are believed to have died while in custody. 57. Habtemichael Tesfamariam, 76 years old, died in Mai Serwa prison on 3 January 2018. A Jehovah’s Witness for 48 years, he was arrested in 2008 for his religious beliefs and endured the punitive prison conditions for nearly ten years, refusing to recant his faith. He is believed to have died after suffering a stroke. 58. Solomon Habtom, a former freedom fighter, died on 18 August 2017 at Karshele prison. Arrested on 10 July 2003, he is believed to have been in his late sixties. He was imprisoned for 14 years without being charged or tried in a court of law. The authorities did not provide any information regarding the cause and circumstances of his death. 59. An Evangelical Christian from an unrecognized church died in August 2017 while in prison. The person was arrested in the dead of night at his home during a house-to-house raid without any search or arrest warrant. During detention the person’s health deteriorated rapidly while in custody and reportedly the detainee died on the way to the hospital. Although the real cause of death is not known, the harsh environment and exacting prison conditions took their toll. 60. While the deaths in custody mentioned above were brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur, supporting the already well-documented pattern of deaths in custody in Eritrea, there are more that have not been documented. All deaths in custody must be investigated promptly. Investigations need to be in-depth, transparent and impartial. Bereaved families have the right to obtain answers and those who are responsible should be criminally sanctioned. Families whose loved ones have died in custody should also obtain reparations. Extrajudicial killing at the border – “shoot to kill” practice 3. 61. Instances of extrajudicial killings at the border continue. In July 2017, a young man was shot dead as he tried to cross the border near a frontier town. While there was no official communication about his death to his family, his relatives learned of his fate through informal channels, although no information about the location of his remains were passed on. No further details were shared owing to a fear of reprisals. Family members have the right to know if another member of their family is extrajudicially executed at the border and bodies should be remitted to bereaved families for burial. Above all, they need justice. 4. Freedom of expression, association and assembly 62. The Government of Eritrea, through its Minister of Information, at first tried to dismiss the protests that took place in Akhria in October 2017 as a “small demonstration by one school in Asmara” that had been dispersed.5 While the Government has not provided any official data in connection with the subsequent arrests and detentions during both the October 2017 and March 2018 events, or the number of people injured or requiring treatment because of the excessive use of force by the security apparatus, the figures run into the hundreds. 63. After the protests in Akhria in October 2017, communication channels were jammed. Internet access was cut in certain cities, as was the telephone system. 5 10 Tweet by Yemane Gebremeskel on 31 October 2017, available at https://twitter.com/hawelti/status/925451372581015552.