@ZekuZelalem@dair-community.social
2026-05-08 06:27 UTC
Ciham was born in April 1997 in Los Angeles, California, to Eritrean parents.
She moved to Eritrea as a child when her father, Ali Abdu, became the Eritrea's Minister of Information in 2002. Under Eritrea's totalitarian regime, Ali Abdu was known for threatening critical voices and defending the regime's record. He was a feared man and anyone with remotely critical views risked jail by angering him.
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@ZekuZelalem@dair-community.social 2026-05-08 06:30
A decade after becoming a powerful member of Eritrea's government, in November 2012, Ali Abdu had a falling out with President Isaias Afewerki. Over what exactly, we don't know. He defected & applied for asylum in Australia. The news was groundbreaking in Eritrea, where his was a feared face for years. President Isaias, who has ruled with a iron fist since Eritrea's independence in 1991, was reportedly livid. A CPJ article on the minister's disappearance from 2012. https://cpj.org/2012/12/where-is-eritrean-information-minister-ali-abdu/