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<\/p>\n(RNS) \u2014 Thirty years after Eritrea revoked the citizenship of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, international human rights experts are condemning the nation\u2019s persecution of the religious group and advocating for the release of wrongfully detained prisoners.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAs of the latest information available, 64 Jehovah\u2019s Witness worshippers remain in detention for exercising their faith,\u201d Mohamed Babiker, a United Nations expert on Eritrea\u2019s observance of human rights, reported to the body\u2019s committee on social, humanitarian and cultural issues on Oct. 30. \u201cJust last month, 25 Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, including two children, were arrested. While the two minors were later released, the 23 adults were reportedly transported to Mai Serwa prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
The September raid, the first major action against Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses in Eritrea since 2014, broke up a worship service at the home of Letebrhan Tesfay, 85, one of the first Eritreans to become a Jehovah\u2019s Witness, according to Jarrod Lopes, a U.S. spokesperson for the group.<\/p>\n
Tesfay, who was among those arrested, \u201coutlasted the oppression under Emperor Haile Selassie and is poised to do the same again,\u201d Lopes said in an email. \u201cWitnesses currently facing ruthless persecution for their faith share the same determination, hope, and inner peace as the Witnesses who proved faithful before them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those imprisoned in the raid have not been formally charged, tried or sentenced, a Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses report alleged. In a 2023 report, the U.S. State Department said Eritrean prisoners commonly face \u201charsh\u201d and \u201clife threatening\u201d\u00a0prison conditions.<\/p>\n
In light of the arrests, human rights experts have chosen to speak up as the anniversary of the denial of citizenship approached. On Oct. 25, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom shared statements from two of its commissioners on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are concerned for Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses in #Eritrea, particularly those who are imprisoned, many of whom have been held unjustly for decades under horrific conditions,\u201d said a\u00a0statement\u00a0attributed to Commissioner Vicky Hartzler. \u201c@StateDept should continue to work for their release, freedom, and citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, whose beliefs don\u2019t allow them to participate in the military, refused to be recruits in the\u00a0Eritrean War of Independence\u00a0between the Ethiopian government and separatists from 1961 to 1991. While Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses characterized their lack of participation as political neutrality, not opposition to Eritrean independence, the Eritrean government responded by stripping Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses of their citizenship. Since then, 270 Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses have been imprisoned in Eritrea, according to the faith group.<\/p>\n
Many Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses in Eritrea\u00a0are effectively barred\u00a0from holding government jobs, receiving government benefits and accessing bank accounts. The lack of official documents also prevents many Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses from owning property, finding employment or leaving the country. Worship must also be conducted in secret.<\/p>\n
They aren\u2019t the only faith group facing opposition in Eritrea. In addition to the more than 60 Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses being held, hundreds of other Christians are being arbitrarily imprisoned, according to Babiker.<\/p>\n
\u201cI urge the Eritrean government to take bold and comprehensive action to address the human rights situation in the country,\u201d said Babiker at the U.N. committee meeting. \u201cMeaningful and genuine reforms can only set Eritrea on a path toward a society where human rights are upheld and fulfilled.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(RNS) \u2014 Thirty years after Eritrea revoked the citizenship of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, international human rights experts are condemning the nation\u2019s persecution of the religious group and advocating for the release of wrongfully detained prisoners. \u201cAs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eritrea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9657,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9655\/revisions\/9657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}