ICC Note:

Two Christian women died after contributing in a hunger strike in order to bring awareness about Christian persecution. The women, who were not identified, were detained in the Wi’a military camp and were taken to Massawa Hospital in critical condition last month, according to the U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which attributed to the report to Eritrean website. Based on bruises their bodies allegedly carried, there were suggestions of sexual abuse.

04/04/2017 Eritrea (The Christian Post) – The two women, who were not identified, were detained in the Wi’a military camp and were taken to Massawa Hospital in critical condition last month after they started their hunger strike, according to the U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which attributed the report to Eritrean website Erimedrek News.

The women were protesting against the abuse they were subjected to in detention. Their bodies allegedly carried bruises suggesting sexual abuse, the website said.

“We mourn with the families and friends of these young women, who are the latest known victims of a regime deemed guilty of perpetrating crimes against humanity against its own people,” Mervyn Thomas, CSW’s chief executive, said in a statement.

The two women were kept in isolation in the hospital.

“It is imperative that this tragedy galvanizes efforts by the international community to ensure justice for victims of crimes against humanity, by formalizing and initiating processes to identify and hold perpetrators accountable before national, regional or international judicial mechanisms,” Thomas added.

One of Africa’s smallest countries, Eritrea has jailed, tortured and killed numerous evangelical Protestant Christians.

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki is a member of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, an Oriental Orthodox church with its headquarters in the capital city of Asmara. It’s the largest among the only three Christian denominations deemed legal in the country.

Afewerki is known to be an alcoholic, and a ruthless autocrat, who has held the office since the country’s independence in 1993.

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