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07 January

Holiday Card Action 2006 - Imprisoned Protestant Pastors

Holiday Card Action 2006

Eritrea – Imprisoned Protestant Pastors Pastor Haile Naizgi, Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskel, and Pastor Tesfatsion Hagos are a few of the many evangelical Christians who have been detained in Eritrea in recent years on account of their faith. When the government ordered in 2002 that all unregistered religions must close their places of worship and stop practicing their faith until they were registered, many groups worried that the process of registration could expose their members to reprisals by hostile authorities. Many evangelical Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses continued to gather in private for worship. Police began arresting members of unregistered religious groups in 2003, intensifying the crackdown in 2005. A total of about 2,000 men, women and children who belong to now-closed evangelical Christian churches are believed held in prisons around the country. Pastor Haile Naizgi, chairperson of the Mullu Wongel Church, and Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskel, chair of the Eritrean Evangelical Alliance, were arrested in Asmara in May 2004. They are detained in Karchele security prison, and are both reported to have been sentenced extra-judicially to five years’ imprisonment by a secret security committee. Pastor Tesfatsion Hagos of the Rema Church was also arrested in May 2004. He, too, is reported to have been sentenced extra-judicially to a five-year prison term, which he is serving at Karchele prison. Amnesty International considers the men to be prisoners of conscience. Please send them messages of support at the address below. Please send cards of support to: [prisoner’s name] Karchele prison 2nd Police Station, Zone 7 Northern East Zoba Maakel Asmara ERITREA

posted at 8:48:03 AM on 1/7/2007 by echrrp - Category: Eritrean Prisoners of Conscience

Comments

Alenalkicom wrote:

ተስፋ ደሊና…… ካዕ ካዕ ዘለኩም ኣራግፉታ ንበል ሓደ ሓደ ሰብ ከይ ወሓደ ኣዝማሪኖ መጺኦምታ ጁባኹም ንገፉታ ዝሃብናዮም ወዲኦምታ ንምውዳቕ ጾርና ጽንዓትና፡ ዕምነትና ዋይ ተስፋ ደሊና!!! እንታይ ይብሉ ኣለው ይመስለኩም…..? እቲ ብሓደ ብጉልበት እቲ ብሓደ ብፍልጠት እቲ ብሓደ ብንብረት ነልምዓያ መሬት… ነመልምላ መሬት…. ኣብርሃም ኣፈወርቂ……. ተሪር ሃገራዊነቱ መሬት ከይተኸድነ ቃላቱ ሓመድ ኸይተሸፈነ ከም ወትሩ ርግሒት ኣመልኩም እምበኣር ኽትሽቅጡ ጀሚርኩም እንተዝህሉ ብህይወት መፍለጠኩም ኔሩ ሕጓ ምስ ምድሪ ቤት ኣብ ጌጋ ኣፍ ደገ ትዅሕኩሑ ኣለኹም ቦታ ቐይሩ…. መን’ዩ ሓቀኛ ሞሊቑኩም ኸይትነግሩ ዓይንኹም ብዕሙቱ ኸይትባራበሩ….. ሓደራ !!!!!! ወሃቢት ተስፋ ንስኺ ፈልፋሊት ጽንዓት ባዕልኺ ሃገረይ…. ንስኺ ‘ወ ሃገረይ ዓወት ንሓፋሽ !!!!! ዘልኣለማዊ ዝኽሪ ንስውኣትና !!!

1/7/2007 4:49:38 PM

Yemane (Atlanta) wrote:

Dr. Kiflu was sent for higher education to the USA. Being a true nationalist went back home to serve his country. He is a very good citizen. People like Dr. Kiflu should be freed immediately. Eritrea needs people like Dr. Kiflu who serve their country with honest. I wish we had a president like Dr. Kflu who stands for truth and only truth. May God give Dr. Kflu comfort.

1/7/2007 1:50:48 PM

Josha wrote:

to Dr.Asmerom These guys have invisible mission to distract the progress of the country and they may seem innocent but they have big agenda, in subjugating the country and the people at large. These institutions used as a means of gathering information ,weakening the spirit of the youth, and devaluing the culture and the tradition so as to make them ready to accept western influence. I strongly believe that in personal freedom and i do not deny the situation in which our country is in, and the daily deterioration condition.Do not forget the missionaries come to africa carrying a gun on one hand and a bible in the other.It is known in the western countries, the despicable act reach these churches appointing a homosexual bishob, and priest , which is a strong contradiction to the way of christianity and devotion, there are a lot of cases coming the act of these churches, so they need to be checked.peace to our country and the world.

1/7/2007 11:12:21 AM

Dr. Asmerom haile wrote:

Dr kiflu is my instructor. I am his product. Although I am an orthodox christian, I truely understund his innosence and abhore the shamfull act of the president of eritrea "Ato issayas" for detaining the good intelligent person who should have been rewarded for being a roll model to many eritreans. My last message to my orthodox brothers is that if we fail to express our disgust with the torture which is being perpetuated by higdefites unfortunately spearheaded by the president who was supposed to lead the country to harmony, torture knows no borders!!!

1/7/2007 10:31:48 AM

teclai atombesa wrote:

This is very inhuman and degrading. I feel ashamed to be part of the eritrean struggle for over a decade to anly bring such sorrow to my people.

1/7/2007 10:17:54 AM

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