Eritrea Doubly Evil

ICC Note

” Eritrea has become one of the most closed and repressive states in the world. Thousands of political prisoners are detained in prisons and underground cells; there is no independent civil society; all independent media outlets have been shut down; the head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church is in incommunicado detention; and evangelical Christians are rounded up and tortured on a regular basis.”

By Doug Bandow

04/02/2010 Eritrea (The American Spectator)- Eritrea is not quite two decades old. But it has become an international problem, a source of instability and repression on the Horn of Africa. It also is one of the world’s worst religious persecutors.

Eritrea was an Italian colony, administered by Great Britain after World War II, and then federated with Ethiopia in 1951. An independence movement soon became active. After three decades of war Eritrea became a separate nation.

As bad as the Eritrean government is for its neighbors, it is far worse for its own people. Eritrea is widely recognized by human rights groups and Western states as having an extraordinarily repressive government. It is one of “the world’s most systematic human rights violators,” according to the State Department.

Similarly, Human Rights Watch declared: ” Eritrea has become one of the most closed and repressive states in the world. Thousands of political prisoners are detained in prisons and underground cells; there is no independent civil society; all independent media outlets have been shut down; the head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church is in incommunicado detention; and evangelical Christians are rounded up and tortured on a regular basis.” Another HRW study referred to the government having “established a totalitarian grip on Eritrea .”

Amnesty International has routinely detailed human rights abuses by the Asmara authorities. Last year, for instance, the organization noted that “The government prohibited independent journalism, opposition parties, unregistered religious organizations, and virtually all civil society activity.” Moreover, Amnesty added, “thousands of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners remained in detention after years in prison.”

Last year International Christian Concern placed Eritrea at number nine in its annual Hall of Shame. According to the ICC the intensity of persecution was “high” and “increasing.” In the ICC’s report this year the group abandoned its attempt to rank persecutors, but again included Eritrea among the worst ten. Eritrea placed among the top four in intensity of persecution, along with North Korea , Saudi Arabia , and Somalia .

The list of abuses is lengthy. Reported the Commission:

Violations include arbitrary arrests and detention without charge of members of unregistered religious groups, and the torture or other ill-treatment of hundreds of persons on account of their religion, sometimes resulting in death. Other serious concerns continue to include the prolonged ban on public religious activities by all religious groups that are not officially recognized, closure by the authorities of the places of worship of these religious groups, inordinate delays in acting on registration applications by religious groups, and the disruption of private religious and even social gatherings of members of unregistered groups.

More recently, the Commission reported that “Eritrean security forces have disrupted private worship, conducted mass arrests of participants at religious weddings, prayer meetings, and other gatherings, and detained those arrested without charge for indefinite period of time.” Government restrictions make it hard to count the number arrested and imprisoned, but stories of arrests, imprisonment, and torture have become sadly routine. Nevertheless, the stories of many victims ultimately leak out.

International Christian Concern estimated that “there are more than 3,000 Christians imprisoned in Eritrea . Many are kept in metal shipping containers, military barracks and prison cells under inhumane conditions. Many Christians have been paralyzed or killed in prison due to torture and lack of medical condition.” Conviction of a crime in a court of law is not required for imprisonment.