ICC Note: Tomorrow marks the ten-year anniversary of Eritrea’s house arrest of Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios. According to reports, the government removed Antonios because he refused to excommunicate thousands of church members who stood against the state. Since then, he has been held incommunicado. Eritrea represents one of the world’s worst persecutors of the Church, imprisoning and torturing Christians, cramming them into metal shipping containers in the desert and subjecting them to extreme temperature fluctuations.

1/19/16 Eritrea (USCIRF) – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) solemnly marks the 10 year anniversary tomorrow of the illegal removal and detention of Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios as head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.

“USCIRF calls on the Eritrean government to immediately release Patriarch Antonios and allow him to return to his rightful position as head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Robert P. George.

Eritrean authorities informed Patriarch Antonios on January 20, 2006 that he would no longer lead the country’s largest religious denomination. The government took this action after Patriarch Antonios called for the release of political prisoners and refused to excommunicate 3,000 parishioners who opposed the government.  On May 27, 2007, the Eritrean government replaced Patriarch Antonios with Bishop Dioscoros of Mendefera, forcefully removed the Patriarch from his home, and placed him under house arrest at an undisclosed location.  Patriarch Antonios continues to be held incommunicado and reportedly is being denied medical care despite suffering from severe diabetes.

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