The festival in question, Festival Eritrea Scandinavia, has been organized since the 1990s, according to Nyhetsbyrån Järva. The event has previously been criticized for attending to the business of the Eritrean regime. It has also been reported that the regime earns millions of kroner from the festival.
In the past, many have demonstrated against the festival under the slogan “Dawit Isaak Campaign” after the Eritrean-Swedish writer Dawit Isaak, who has been imprisoned in Eritrea without trial since 2001.
Eritrea freed itself from Ethiopia in 1993. Eritrea under the leadership of Isaias Afwerki is in practice a one-party state and one of the world’s harshest dictatorships.
Source: TT, National Encyclopedia