More Deaths by Torture in Eritrea
Eritrean authorities tortured a woman to death on September 5 for refusing to recant her Christian faith, the fourth such killing in less than a year. Nigisti Haile, 33, died at the Wi’a Military Training Center; she was one of 10 single Christian women arrested at a church gathering in Keren who had spent more than 18 months under severe pressure. On February 15, Magos Solomon Semere also died under torture, at the Adi-Nefase Military Confinement facility outside Assab. The previous year, on October 17, two other Christians – Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30 – died from torture wounds in Eritrea. Haile was a member of a Rhema church, an independent Protestant group, according to Christian support organization Open Doors. In August, Open Doors learned that 10 Christian women arrested earlier were separated from other prisoners and taken to the Wi’a military center, where they underwent torture for refusing to recant. Eritrea outlawed independent Protestant churches in May 2002, closing their buildings and banning them from meeting even in private homes. Since then, Eritrea has officially recognized only Islam and the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Christian churches. At the same time, Amnesty International noted, religious persecution has also affected the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Authorities have deposed and detained the patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios, due to his criticisms of government interference in church matters, Amnesty said. More than 2,000 Eritrean Christians are imprisoned in Eritrea. All have been denied legal counsel or trial, with no written charges filed against them. Eritrean authorities have also ordered that all Catholic schools, clinics, orphanages and women’s vocational training centers be turned over to the government’s Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor. *** Photos of Patriarch Abune Antonios are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.