Human rights groups protest detention of Christians in Eritrea

Several international human rights organizations, including the U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, held a protest vigil outside the Eritrean Embassy in London to mark the 20th anniversary of the ongoing detention of senior church leaders in Eritrea. The event, the first in-person protest at the embassy since May 2019, aimed to draw attention to the Eritrean government’s restrictions on religious freedom and its crackdown on non-state-sanctioned religious practices.

Since 2003, annual vigils have been organized to commemorate the May 2002 governmental decree that effectively banned religious groups outside of the state-approved denominations of Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, Orthodox Christianity, and Sunni Islam. The policy has led to severe restrictions on freedom of religion or belief and resulted in widespread arbitrary detentions of adherents from both sanctioned and unsanctioned faiths.

Dr. Berhane Asmelash, director of Release Eritrea, stated, “Twenty years is too many. Now the situation in Eritrea is getting worse. In the last month, hundreds of Christians were arrested, taken from their homes at night and imprisoned without committing any crimes.” Asmelash emphasized that the Eritrean government’s actions are unjust, asserting that “the final word will come from the Lord” and that change is imminent.

Elsa Chyrum, director of Human Rights Concern-Eritrea, highlighted the plight of Eritrean refugees, who face danger across multiple borders, from Tigray to Sudan and even as far as Egypt and Israel. She described the situation as one of “imprisonment without trial, torture, persecution of beliefs, and, above all, lifetime National Service for every young man or woman over 18 years of age, condemned to endless years in the armed forces or slave labor in government-owned factories, farms, construction sites and mines.”

The Eritrean Orthodox Church in the U.K., along with other groups, has been actively involved in advocating for religious freedom and the release of detained individuals. The continued detention of church leaders and the broader persecution of religious adherents underscore the urgent need for international attention and intervention.

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