Page 16 - Voice of the Persecuted Christians - Oct-Dec 2022 - 120

ERITREA
Helen Berhane’s inspiring testimony
is available at woocommerce-1195296-4229685.cloudwaysapps.com
ERITREA
STEPS UP EARRESTS
‘Food and medicine have been getting through since June but all forces are preparing for further conflict. Eritrea is sending more forces into Tigray and the Ethiopian Government is also saying it will reinvade Tigray.’
Children are among those who have been taken away by the authorities in the latest raid on a Christian gathering
Hundreds of Christians who fled to northern Ethiopia to escape persecution in Eritrea have been caught up in the conflict.
ritrea is continuing to arrest Christians, both adults and children. In June a group of 17
most persecuted group of people in Eritrea. It is because they won’t stop gathering and won’t stop worshipping. It is beyond the Government’s control.’
*Song of the Nightingale is available for £8 from the releaseinternational. org estore
men and women and eight children were taken into custody.
It is believed that there are about
250 believers in prison in Eritrea many of whom are housed in inhumane conditions. In her
moving autobiography Song of the Nightingale* gospel singer Helen Berhane describes how she and other prisoners were kept in shipping containers in desert areas which became roasting hot inside during the day but freezing cold at night.
In the previous edition of Voice magazine we reported on detentions in the capital Asmara at the end
of May. This followed the jailing in March of 29 Christians who had been at a prayer meeting raided by the police. All from these earlier incidents remain in prison as do 15 believers who were rearrested one year after their release. Most of this latter group had spent more than 10 years behind bars.
Helen was sent to prison in 2004, two years after Eritrea shut down most of its churches, outlawing every religion except Sunni Islam, the Orthodox Church, Roman Catholicism and the Lutheran Church. Evangelical church leaders continue to be a target for arrest and persecution because they are authority figures in society and therefore seen as a threat by the state.
SUDAN
ERITREA Asmara
DJIBOUTI ETHIOPIA
PRAY
• Thank God that Christianity continues to grow in Eritrea
• Pray for all those who have recently been arrested and for those who have been behind bars for many years. Ask God to comfort them and their families and to make a way for their release
• Thank God that food and medicine have got through to those in need in the Tigray region
• Pray for an end to the fighting in Tigray
All the detentions were in the Asmara area apart from the ones in June which took place in Barentu in the northwest of the country. There families had simply gathered together for a child dedication in a private home. Thankfully some of those arrested have subsequently been released.
• The Tigray region of northern Ethiopia remains under siege by Eritrean forces in the north and west and Ethiopian military in the east and south. ‘It would appear that the Tigrayans are preparing for war to break the siege,’ said our partner
‘The Government does not appear to have changed its policy,’ said Release International partner Dr Berhane Asmelash. ‘Fear is their main tool. Even those they release they don’t want them to feel free.’
He added: ‘Christians have been the
Dr Berhane Asmelash.
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