Eritrean Govt. Continues Crackdown on Persecuted Christians
by Allie Martin
May 31, 2005
(AgapePress) - The president of Open Doors USA is encouraging believers in America not to forget Christians in the Eastern African country of Eritrea, who are persecuted for their faith. Sixteen full-time pastors and nearly 900 Eritrean Christians are known to be held in prisons, military confinement camps, and other crowded detention areas after being arrested for meeting secretly for prayer and worship outside government-approved churches.Carl Moeller is president of the ministry known as Open Doors USA. He says conditions are continuing to deteriorate for Christians in Eritrea. "These situations would be intolerable for any Christian to even conceive of happening in America," he says, with "people being arrested, held for months, even years, without trial, without charges even being brought, in places like underground cells, military internment camps, and even shipping containers."
Moeller says Christians have been detained for extended periods of time without being provided sanitary facilities or any kind of recreation. And very often, he points out, believers in this persecuted region are held without receiving a hearing or any other kind of trial, frequently without even being charged with any crime.
"The crime" the Open Doors spokesman explains, "is simply being a Christian [who is] not in one of the recognized and approved denominations." For instance, he notes, "In January a wedding party of 60 people was arrested and has been in prison every since. If you can imagine going to a wedding and ending up in jail simply for being not a member of one of the approved religious minorities of that country, that's the situation of our brothers and sisters in Eritrea right now."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported that the Eritrean government does take part in systematic and clear violations of the Right to Freedom Act. Moeller is encouraging Christians in other nations to write or fax the Eritrean embassy on behalf of the persecuted Christians there.
Two groups in the British Isles -- Christian Solidarity Worldwide, based in England, and the Ireland-based Christian Concern for Freedom of Conscience -- are planning a protest on June 9 outside the Eritrean Embassy in London on behalf of persecuted believers in the African nation. The primary objectives of the protest, say the groups, are to highlight the decision made three years ago by the Eritrean government that effectively outlaws denominations representing hundreds of Christians -- and to call for the unconditional release of believers who have been imprisoned simply for their faith in Christ.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
