ASSIST News Service (ANS) -
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs promoting religious liberty for all, says that international human rights NGOs and local church sources currently report that over 2000 Christians are detained without charge or trial in Eritrea. The most prominent is the ordained Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Eritrea’s largest and oldest church, who was illegally deposed and indefinitely detained after objecting to government interference in church affairs and to the arrest of three priests from the EOC’s renewal wing.
In his interview Gebremeskel portrayed Eritrea’s Christian detainees as members of “small groups” that had emerged “in the past seven, eight years”, and that had benefited from secret and undeclared foreign funds, opposed military services, and sown division within “traditional” faiths. Gebremeskel also dismissed reports of mass clandestine migration from Eritrea as “exaggerated.”
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of the Eritrean religious liberty group Release-Eritrea (UK) said: “It is unfortunate that yet again the government of Eritrea has chosen the path of denial and distortion.” He added: “I am particularly shocked to hear Mr. Gebremeskel putting the life-span of these churches at around seven or eight years when in fact every Eritrean knows the long-standing contribution of these churches to the nation, including the independence struggle and also during the border conflict in 1998.”
Dr. Asmelash also refuted the assertion that the proscribed churches had received secret foreign funding: “Five years after the closure of these churches and several years after the government has combed through the accounts and operations, no one has been able to produce a shred of evidence to support this accusation”. On the issue of National Service he added “if these churches were opposing the National Service what is the explanation for the huge numbers represented in the army?”
Meanwhile, Release-Eritrea UK has also learned that Pastor Michael Abraha, who was detained during recent dawn raids that targeted the homes of members of the Kale Hiwot Church in the Dekemhare area, has been released along with many of those who were arrested with him. However, the organisation’s local contacts report that Christians who visited the detainees in the aftermath of the raids were themselves detained and are currently imprisoned in W’ia military training camp.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, says: “The mass arrests of Christians, and of any Eritreans deemed disloyal to the country, have now been proven beyond dispute. Moreover, statistics compiled by agencies working to assist refugees worldwide testify to the rapidly increasing numbers of Eritreans who are risking their lives to cross deserts and seas in order to escape severe repression at home. By choosing to disregard these facts and to instead defend the indefensible, the Eritrean government does itself no favours. It merely dissipates any international credibility it has left.”
This year Sudan-based Eritrean opposition sources put the number of people crossing the Sahara into Sudan at around 400 to 600 per month. An unknown number have died attempting to escape via the desert to Sudan. Most recently, news emerged of the death of Eritrean Television’s Amharic program journalist Paulos Kidane as he attempted to escape to Sudan.
During the interview Gebremeskel also claimed that Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that campaigns for the rights of imprisoned Eritrean journalists, is “largely funded” by shadowy US institutions that seek to “advance certain policy objectives of the US Administration.”
Gebremeskel also justified the detention since September 2001 of 11 ruling party members who had requested democratization by claiming they had committed “acts of treason.”
For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.
| ** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. |
|
ASSIST News Service (ANS) -
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs promoting religious liberty for all, says that international human rights NGOs and local church sources currently report that over 2000 Christians are detained without charge or trial in Eritrea. The most prominent is the ordained Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Eritrea’s largest and oldest church, who was illegally deposed and indefinitely detained after objecting to government interference in church affairs and to the arrest of three priests from the EOC’s renewal wing.
In his interview Gebremeskel portrayed Eritrea’s Christian detainees as members of “small groups” that had emerged “in the past seven, eight years”, and that had benefited from secret and undeclared foreign funds, opposed military services, and sown division within “traditional” faiths. Gebremeskel also dismissed reports of mass clandestine migration from Eritrea as “exaggerated.”
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of the Eritrean religious liberty group Release-Eritrea (UK) said: “It is unfortunate that yet again the government of Eritrea has chosen the path of denial and distortion.” He added: “I am particularly shocked to hear Mr. Gebremeskel putting the life-span of these churches at around seven or eight years when in fact every Eritrean knows the long-standing contribution of these churches to the nation, including the independence struggle and also during the border conflict in 1998.”
Dr. Asmelash also refuted the assertion that the proscribed churches had received secret foreign funding: “Five years after the closure of these churches and several years after the government has combed through the accounts and operations, no one has been able to produce a shred of evidence to support this accusation”. On the issue of National Service he added “if these churches were opposing the National Service what is the explanation for the huge numbers represented in the army?”
Meanwhile, Release-Eritrea UK has also learned that Pastor Michael Abraha, who was detained during recent dawn raids that targeted the homes of members of the Kale Hiwot Church in the Dekemhare area, has been released along with many of those who were arrested with him. However, the organisation’s local contacts report that Christians who visited the detainees in the aftermath of the raids were themselves detained and are currently imprisoned in W’ia military training camp.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, says: “The mass arrests of Christians, and of any Eritreans deemed disloyal to the country, have now been proven beyond dispute. Moreover, statistics compiled by agencies working to assist refugees worldwide testify to the rapidly increasing numbers of Eritreans who are risking their lives to cross deserts and seas in order to escape severe repression at home. By choosing to disregard these facts and to instead defend the indefensible, the Eritrean government does itself no favours. It merely dissipates any international credibility it has left.”
This year Sudan-based Eritrean opposition sources put the number of people crossing the Sahara into Sudan at around 400 to 600 per month. An unknown number have died attempting to escape via the desert to Sudan. Most recently, news emerged of the death of Eritrean Television’s Amharic program journalist Paulos Kidane as he attempted to escape to Sudan.
During the interview Gebremeskel also claimed that Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that campaigns for the rights of imprisoned Eritrean journalists, is “largely funded” by shadowy US institutions that seek to “advance certain policy objectives of the US Administration.”
Gebremeskel also justified the detention since September 2001 of 11 ruling party members who had requested democratization by claiming they had committed “acts of treason.”
For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.
| ** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. |
|
ASSIST News Service (ANS) -
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs promoting religious liberty for all, says that international human rights NGOs and local church sources currently report that over 2000 Christians are detained without charge or trial in Eritrea. The most prominent is the ordained Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Eritrea’s largest and oldest church, who was illegally deposed and indefinitely detained after objecting to government interference in church affairs and to the arrest of three priests from the EOC’s renewal wing.
In his interview Gebremeskel portrayed Eritrea’s Christian detainees as members of “small groups” that had emerged “in the past seven, eight years”, and that had benefited from secret and undeclared foreign funds, opposed military services, and sown division within “traditional” faiths. Gebremeskel also dismissed reports of mass clandestine migration from Eritrea as “exaggerated.”
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of the Eritrean religious liberty group Release-Eritrea (UK) said: “It is unfortunate that yet again the government of Eritrea has chosen the path of denial and distortion.” He added: “I am particularly shocked to hear Mr. Gebremeskel putting the life-span of these churches at around seven or eight years when in fact every Eritrean knows the long-standing contribution of these churches to the nation, including the independence struggle and also during the border conflict in 1998.”
Dr. Asmelash also refuted the assertion that the proscribed churches had received secret foreign funding: “Five years after the closure of these churches and several years after the government has combed through the accounts and operations, no one has been able to produce a shred of evidence to support this accusation”. On the issue of National Service he added “if these churches were opposing the National Service what is the explanation for the huge numbers represented in the army?”
Meanwhile, Release-Eritrea UK has also learned that Pastor Michael Abraha, who was detained during recent dawn raids that targeted the homes of members of the Kale Hiwot Church in the Dekemhare area, has been released along with many of those who were arrested with him. However, the organisation’s local contacts report that Christians who visited the detainees in the aftermath of the raids were themselves detained and are currently imprisoned in W’ia military training camp.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, says: “The mass arrests of Christians, and of any Eritreans deemed disloyal to the country, have now been proven beyond dispute. Moreover, statistics compiled by agencies working to assist refugees worldwide testify to the rapidly increasing numbers of Eritreans who are risking their lives to cross deserts and seas in order to escape severe repression at home. By choosing to disregard these facts and to instead defend the indefensible, the Eritrean government does itself no favours. It merely dissipates any international credibility it has left.”
This year Sudan-based Eritrean opposition sources put the number of people crossing the Sahara into Sudan at around 400 to 600 per month. An unknown number have died attempting to escape via the desert to Sudan. Most recently, news emerged of the death of Eritrean Television’s Amharic program journalist Paulos Kidane as he attempted to escape to Sudan.
During the interview Gebremeskel also claimed that Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that campaigns for the rights of imprisoned Eritrean journalists, is “largely funded” by shadowy US institutions that seek to “advance certain policy objectives of the US Administration.”
Gebremeskel also justified the detention since September 2001 of 11 ruling party members who had requested democratization by claiming they had committed “acts of treason.”
For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.
| ** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. |
|
ASSIST News Service (ANS) -
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs promoting religious liberty for all, says that international human rights NGOs and local church sources currently report that over 2000 Christians are detained without charge or trial in Eritrea. The most prominent is the ordained Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Eritrea’s largest and oldest church, who was illegally deposed and indefinitely detained after objecting to government interference in church affairs and to the arrest of three priests from the EOC’s renewal wing.
In his interview Gebremeskel portrayed Eritrea’s Christian detainees as members of “small groups” that had emerged “in the past seven, eight years”, and that had benefited from secret and undeclared foreign funds, opposed military services, and sown division within “traditional” faiths. Gebremeskel also dismissed reports of mass clandestine migration from Eritrea as “exaggerated.”
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of the Eritrean religious liberty group Release-Eritrea (UK) said: “It is unfortunate that yet again the government of Eritrea has chosen the path of denial and distortion.” He added: “I am particularly shocked to hear Mr. Gebremeskel putting the life-span of these churches at around seven or eight years when in fact every Eritrean knows the long-standing contribution of these churches to the nation, including the independence struggle and also during the border conflict in 1998.”
Dr. Asmelash also refuted the assertion that the proscribed churches had received secret foreign funding: “Five years after the closure of these churches and several years after the government has combed through the accounts and operations, no one has been able to produce a shred of evidence to support this accusation”. On the issue of National Service he added “if these churches were opposing the National Service what is the explanation for the huge numbers represented in the army?”
Meanwhile, Release-Eritrea UK has also learned that Pastor Michael Abraha, who was detained during recent dawn raids that targeted the homes of members of the Kale Hiwot Church in the Dekemhare area, has been released along with many of those who were arrested with him. However, the organisation’s local contacts report that Christians who visited the detainees in the aftermath of the raids were themselves detained and are currently imprisoned in W’ia military training camp.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, says: “The mass arrests of Christians, and of any Eritreans deemed disloyal to the country, have now been proven beyond dispute. Moreover, statistics compiled by agencies working to assist refugees worldwide testify to the rapidly increasing numbers of Eritreans who are risking their lives to cross deserts and seas in order to escape severe repression at home. By choosing to disregard these facts and to instead defend the indefensible, the Eritrean government does itself no favours. It merely dissipates any international credibility it has left.”
This year Sudan-based Eritrean opposition sources put the number of people crossing the Sahara into Sudan at around 400 to 600 per month. An unknown number have died attempting to escape via the desert to Sudan. Most recently, news emerged of the death of Eritrean Television’s Amharic program journalist Paulos Kidane as he attempted to escape to Sudan.
During the interview Gebremeskel also claimed that Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that campaigns for the rights of imprisoned Eritrean journalists, is “largely funded” by shadowy US institutions that seek to “advance certain policy objectives of the US Administration.”
Gebremeskel also justified the detention since September 2001 of 11 ruling party members who had requested democratization by claiming they had committed “acts of treason.”
For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.
| ** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. |
|
ASSIST News Service (ANS) -
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs promoting religious liberty for all, says that international human rights NGOs and local church sources currently report that over 2000 Christians are detained without charge or trial in Eritrea. The most prominent is the ordained Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Eritrea’s largest and oldest church, who was illegally deposed and indefinitely detained after objecting to government interference in church affairs and to the arrest of three priests from the EOC’s renewal wing.
In his interview Gebremeskel portrayed Eritrea’s Christian detainees as members of “small groups” that had emerged “in the past seven, eight years”, and that had benefited from secret and undeclared foreign funds, opposed military services, and sown division within “traditional” faiths. Gebremeskel also dismissed reports of mass clandestine migration from Eritrea as “exaggerated.”
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of the Eritrean religious liberty group Release-Eritrea (UK) said: “It is unfortunate that yet again the government of Eritrea has chosen the path of denial and distortion.” He added: “I am particularly shocked to hear Mr. Gebremeskel putting the life-span of these churches at around seven or eight years when in fact every Eritrean knows the long-standing contribution of these churches to the nation, including the independence struggle and also during the border conflict in 1998.”
Dr. Asmelash also refuted the assertion that the proscribed churches had received secret foreign funding: “Five years after the closure of these churches and several years after the government has combed through the accounts and operations, no one has been able to produce a shred of evidence to support this accusation”. On the issue of National Service he added “if these churches were opposing the National Service what is the explanation for the huge numbers represented in the army?”
Meanwhile, Release-Eritrea UK has also learned that Pastor Michael Abraha, who was detained during recent dawn raids that targeted the homes of members of the Kale Hiwot Church in the Dekemhare area, has been released along with many of those who were arrested with him. However, the organisation’s local contacts report that Christians who visited the detainees in the aftermath of the raids were themselves detained and are currently imprisoned in W’ia military training camp.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, says: “The mass arrests of Christians, and of any Eritreans deemed disloyal to the country, have now been proven beyond dispute. Moreover, statistics compiled by agencies working to assist refugees worldwide testify to the rapidly increasing numbers of Eritreans who are risking their lives to cross deserts and seas in order to escape severe repression at home. By choosing to disregard these facts and to instead defend the indefensible, the Eritrean government does itself no favours. It merely dissipates any international credibility it has left.”
This year Sudan-based Eritrean opposition sources put the number of people crossing the Sahara into Sudan at around 400 to 600 per month. An unknown number have died attempting to escape via the desert to Sudan. Most recently, news emerged of the death of Eritrean Television’s Amharic program journalist Paulos Kidane as he attempted to escape to Sudan.
During the interview Gebremeskel also claimed that Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that campaigns for the rights of imprisoned Eritrean journalists, is “largely funded” by shadowy US institutions that seek to “advance certain policy objectives of the US Administration.”
Gebremeskel also justified the detention since September 2001 of 11 ruling party members who had requested democratization by claiming they had committed “acts of treason.”
For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.
| ** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. |
|
ASSIST News Service (ANS) -
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs promoting religious liberty for all, says that international human rights NGOs and local church sources currently report that over 2000 Christians are detained without charge or trial in Eritrea. The most prominent is the ordained Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Eritrea’s largest and oldest church, who was illegally deposed and indefinitely detained after objecting to government interference in church affairs and to the arrest of three priests from the EOC’s renewal wing.
In his interview Gebremeskel portrayed Eritrea’s Christian detainees as members of “small groups” that had emerged “in the past seven, eight years”, and that had benefited from secret and undeclared foreign funds, opposed military services, and sown division within “traditional” faiths. Gebremeskel also dismissed reports of mass clandestine migration from Eritrea as “exaggerated.”
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of the Eritrean religious liberty group Release-Eritrea (UK) said: “It is unfortunate that yet again the government of Eritrea has chosen the path of denial and distortion.” He added: “I am particularly shocked to hear Mr. Gebremeskel putting the life-span of these churches at around seven or eight years when in fact every Eritrean knows the long-standing contribution of these churches to the nation, including the independence struggle and also during the border conflict in 1998.”
Dr. Asmelash also refuted the assertion that the proscribed churches had received secret foreign funding: “Five years after the closure of these churches and several years after the government has combed through the accounts and operations, no one has been able to produce a shred of evidence to support this accusation”. On the issue of National Service he added “if these churches were opposing the National Service what is the explanation for the huge numbers represented in the army?”
Meanwhile, Release-Eritrea UK has also learned that Pastor Michael Abraha, who was detained during recent dawn raids that targeted the homes of members of the Kale Hiwot Church in the Dekemhare area, has been released along with many of those who were arrested with him. However, the organisation’s local contacts report that Christians who visited the detainees in the aftermath of the raids were themselves detained and are currently imprisoned in W’ia military training camp.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, says: “The mass arrests of Christians, and of any Eritreans deemed disloyal to the country, have now been proven beyond dispute. Moreover, statistics compiled by agencies working to assist refugees worldwide testify to the rapidly increasing numbers of Eritreans who are risking their lives to cross deserts and seas in order to escape severe repression at home. By choosing to disregard these facts and to instead defend the indefensible, the Eritrean government does itself no favours. It merely dissipates any international credibility it has left.”
This year Sudan-based Eritrean opposition sources put the number of people crossing the Sahara into Sudan at around 400 to 600 per month. An unknown number have died attempting to escape via the desert to Sudan. Most recently, news emerged of the death of Eritrean Television’s Amharic program journalist Paulos Kidane as he attempted to escape to Sudan.
During the interview Gebremeskel also claimed that Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that campaigns for the rights of imprisoned Eritrean journalists, is “largely funded” by shadowy US institutions that seek to “advance certain policy objectives of the US Administration.”
Gebremeskel also justified the detention since September 2001 of 11 ruling party members who had requested democratization by claiming they had committed “acts of treason.”
For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.
| ** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. |
|
ASSIST News Service (ANS) -
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs promoting religious liberty for all, says that international human rights NGOs and local church sources currently report that over 2000 Christians are detained without charge or trial in Eritrea. The most prominent is the ordained Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Eritrea’s largest and oldest church, who was illegally deposed and indefinitely detained after objecting to government interference in church affairs and to the arrest of three priests from the EOC’s renewal wing.
In his interview Gebremeskel portrayed Eritrea’s Christian detainees as members of “small groups” that had emerged “in the past seven, eight years”, and that had benefited from secret and undeclared foreign funds, opposed military services, and sown division within “traditional” faiths. Gebremeskel also dismissed reports of mass clandestine migration from Eritrea as “exaggerated.”
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of the Eritrean religious liberty group Release-Eritrea (UK) said: “It is unfortunate that yet again the government of Eritrea has chosen the path of denial and distortion.” He added: “I am particularly shocked to hear Mr. Gebremeskel putting the life-span of these churches at around seven or eight years when in fact every Eritrean knows the long-standing contribution of these churches to the nation, including the independence struggle and also during the border conflict in 1998.”
Dr. Asmelash also refuted the assertion that the proscribed churches had received secret foreign funding: “Five years after the closure of these churches and several years after the government has combed through the accounts and operations, no one has been able to produce a shred of evidence to support this accusation”. On the issue of National Service he added “if these churches were opposing the National Service what is the explanation for the huge numbers represented in the army?”
Meanwhile, Release-Eritrea UK has also learned that Pastor Michael Abraha, who was detained during recent dawn raids that targeted the homes of members of the Kale Hiwot Church in the Dekemhare area, has been released along with many of those who were arrested with him. However, the organisation’s local contacts report that Christians who visited the detainees in the aftermath of the raids were themselves detained and are currently imprisoned in W’ia military training camp.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, says: “The mass arrests of Christians, and of any Eritreans deemed disloyal to the country, have now been proven beyond dispute. Moreover, statistics compiled by agencies working to assist refugees worldwide testify to the rapidly increasing numbers of Eritreans who are risking their lives to cross deserts and seas in order to escape severe repression at home. By choosing to disregard these facts and to instead defend the indefensible, the Eritrean government does itself no favours. It merely dissipates any international credibility it has left.”
This year Sudan-based Eritrean opposition sources put the number of people crossing the Sahara into Sudan at around 400 to 600 per month. An unknown number have died attempting to escape via the desert to Sudan. Most recently, news emerged of the death of Eritrean Television’s Amharic program journalist Paulos Kidane as he attempted to escape to Sudan.
During the interview Gebremeskel also claimed that Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that campaigns for the rights of imprisoned Eritrean journalists, is “largely funded” by shadowy US institutions that seek to “advance certain policy objectives of the US Administration.”
Gebremeskel also justified the detention since September 2001 of 11 ruling party members who had requested democratization by claiming they had committed “acts of treason.”
For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.
| ** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. |
|
ASSIST News Service (ANS) -
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs promoting religious liberty for all, says that international human rights NGOs and local church sources currently report that over 2000 Christians are detained without charge or trial in Eritrea. The most prominent is the ordained Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Eritrea’s largest and oldest church, who was illegally deposed and indefinitely detained after objecting to government interference in church affairs and to the arrest of three priests from the EOC’s renewal wing.
In his interview Gebremeskel portrayed Eritrea’s Christian detainees as members of “small groups” that had emerged “in the past seven, eight years”, and that had benefited from secret and undeclared foreign funds, opposed military services, and sown division within “traditional” faiths. Gebremeskel also dismissed reports of mass clandestine migration from Eritrea as “exaggerated.”
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of the Eritrean religious liberty group Release-Eritrea (UK) said: “It is unfortunate that yet again the government of Eritrea has chosen the path of denial and distortion.” He added: “I am particularly shocked to hear Mr. Gebremeskel putting the life-span of these churches at around seven or eight years when in fact every Eritrean knows the long-standing contribution of these churches to the nation, including the independence struggle and also during the border conflict in 1998.”
Dr. Asmelash also refuted the assertion that the proscribed churches had received secret foreign funding: “Five years after the closure of these churches and several years after the government has combed through the accounts and operations, no one has been able to produce a shred of evidence to support this accusation”. On the issue of National Service he added “if these churches were opposing the National Service what is the explanation for the huge numbers represented in the army?”
Meanwhile, Release-Eritrea UK has also learned that Pastor Michael Abraha, who was detained during recent dawn raids that targeted the homes of members of the Kale Hiwot Church in the Dekemhare area, has been released along with many of those who were arrested with him. However, the organisation’s local contacts report that Christians who visited the detainees in the aftermath of the raids were themselves detained and are currently imprisoned in W’ia military training camp.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, says: “The mass arrests of Christians, and of any Eritreans deemed disloyal to the country, have now been proven beyond dispute. Moreover, statistics compiled by agencies working to assist refugees worldwide testify to the rapidly increasing numbers of Eritreans who are risking their lives to cross deserts and seas in order to escape severe repression at home. By choosing to disregard these facts and to instead defend the indefensible, the Eritrean government does itself no favours. It merely dissipates any international credibility it has left.”
This year Sudan-based Eritrean opposition sources put the number of people crossing the Sahara into Sudan at around 400 to 600 per month. An unknown number have died attempting to escape via the desert to Sudan. Most recently, news emerged of the death of Eritrean Television’s Amharic program journalist Paulos Kidane as he attempted to escape to Sudan.
During the interview Gebremeskel also claimed that Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that campaigns for the rights of imprisoned Eritrean journalists, is “largely funded” by shadowy US institutions that seek to “advance certain policy objectives of the US Administration.”
Gebremeskel also justified the detention since September 2001 of 11 ruling party members who had requested democratization by claiming they had committed “acts of treason.”
For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.
| ** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. |
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