He came to Sweden as a refugee in 1987 and settled down in Gothenburg,where his wife and three children live today.
He supported himself as a janitor and became a Swedish citizen in 1992.
He returned to Eritrea in 1996 and started the regime critical newspaper Seit.
On September 23,2001,he was arrested in the Eritrean capital,Asmara,and had since then been in prison.
Why is he in jail?
The political climate got harder in Eritrea during the war with Ethiopia in 1998-2000.
Dawit Isaak´s family was sat in security in Sweden.
In September 2001 published Isaak´s newspaper Seit a petition calling for democratic reforms in Eritrea.
The regime was immediately detained and imprisoned Dawit Isaak,and a number of other regime critical journalists and politicans.
Prohibition was issued against the privately-owned and independent media.
Isaak is not convicted for any crime,no trial has been held,and he spends his life in a small cell.
What´s going on to set him free?
Dawit Isaak has become a symbol in the fight for press and the freedom of speech.
A special Swedish Committee,Free Dawit Isaak,working for to get him free.
Swedish Association of Journalists and a cross-political Dawit Isaak group in the parliament is also involved in the case.
Sweden has also acted diplomatically through the Ministry of Foreign Affair
The regime in Eritrea does not accept Isaak´s Swedish citizenship and sees it as an Eritrean internal affair.