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World | Mon, Oct. 01 2007 10:25 AM EDT
Eritrean Christians Describe Anti-Faith Torture
Methods
By Ethan Cole | Christian Post Reporter
For Paulus, an Eritrean refugee in northern Ethiopia, a helicopter is not only an aircraft people can spot
above in the sky, but also a form of torture where victims are forced to balance on their belly with hands
and feet tied together and legs bent behind their back.
And the evangelical Christian said he knows “the
helicopter” well because, he claims, he was tied in that
position for 136 hours in an effort to pressure him to
recant his faith.
“They kept asking me to sign a document,” he told BBC
News in a report last week, “and agree to not participate
in church activities or express my faith in any form. I was
told I would be untied and released the minute I agreed to
their requests.”
Sitting in Shimelba refugee camp close to the border of
Eritrea, Paulus told of different torture techniques he endured in his homeland for being an evangelical
Christian.
He is among a growing number of Eritrean Christians fleeing the country to escape religious persecution.
Inside Shimelba refugee camp where Paulus lives is the Ebenezer Evangelical Church where he and
others like him can worship freely without fear of persecution – unlike back home.
Eritrea, a small country in East Africa on the Red Sea, is one of the worst persecutors of Christians in
the world. The government is highly suspicious of newer Christian movements such as the Evangelical
and Pentecostal churches and frequently harasses their followers. A harsh crackdown began five years
ago on all churches outside of the government-approved Orthodox, Catholic or Lutheran denominations
There are an estimated 2,000 Eritrean Christians under arrest without trial or legal charge for the sole
reason of their religious beliefs, according to Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency that
reports exclusively on persecution of Christians. Eritrean security forces raid weddings, baptism, worship
services, prayer meetings, and other religious gatherings and arrest both hosts and guests.
College-educated “Samuel” (not his real name), 24, was arrested in 2005 along with 19 other people
while attending a friend’s wedding ceremony. After he was imprisoned, Samuel was forced to perform
backbreaking manual labor for the next 12 months and regularly beaten, according to BBC.
One of the tortures he had to endure involved being hung from a tree with his arms stretched in the form
of a crucifixion for three days.
“They asked me if I would like to leave [my faith]. They asked every night for four months,” he told BBC
News.
Other tortures faced by Christians include being held in metal shipping containers under the hot sun,
beatings, and deprivation of food.
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Eritrean Christians Describe Anti-Faith Torture Methods | Christianpost.com http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071001/eritrean-christians-descri...
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