The European Union said on Friday it was "deeply concerned" over continued abuses of human rights in Eritrea, calling on the East African nation's government to release all political prisoners.

The Swedish EU presidency said in a statement that Eritrean authorities had arrested a number of political figures and journalists over the past several years, keeping them detained without charge.

"The European Union remains deeply concerned that the Government of the State of Eritrea continues to severely violate its human rights obligations under domestic and international law," the presidency said in a statement.

"In particular, the European Union urges the Government of the State of Eritrea to unconditionally release all political prisoners."

In a statement earlier this week marking the 8-year anniversary of a clamp-down by the Eritrean government, Reporters Without Borders labelled Eritrea the "world's biggest prison for journalists", saying at least 30 had been jailed.

The case of Dawit Issac, a journalist with dual Swedish and Eritrean citizenship who has been held without trial in Eritrea since 2001, has sparked outrage in the Nordic country, the current holder of the EU's six-month presidency.

Asmara bristles at repeated accusations by rights groups that it puts independent journalists and non-Orthodox Christians in jail, tortures detainees, and keeps people indefinitely in military service.

"We are not children. We were not born yesterday. No one can educate us on what freedom means," President Isaias Afwerki told Reuters in an interview in May. [ID:nLL236492]

"It is not a question of human rights, religious rights. It is part of a fight, of a powerful opposition, and this powerful opposition has not succeeded in achieving anything," he said. (Reporting by Niklas Pollard)