Christians in Eritrea who were tortured and jailed for their faith have given searing accounts of the brutality they faced to Release International, a ministry serving the persecuted church worldwide.

"The government has imprisoned Christians, they are torturing Christians, they are killing Christians," says Hanibal, a Christian activist who is documenting the persecution in Eritrea. "Christians are treated like animals."

Another prisoner, Hzkias, was chained and kept in solitary confinement in a tiny pitch-black cell for five months. He said that when he was finally let out, he "looked like another creature. My hair and nails were long. My body colour was yellow."

Other prisoners have described being tortured to try to make them renounce their faith. They tell their stories in the latest edition of Release magazine, by Release International. Their accounts were compiled during a recent fact-finding visit to refugee camps.

Release has launched a major campaign to highlight the plight of Christians who are persecuted by the military regime in Eritrea. The campaign includes an online petition calling on Eritrea to honour the right to freedom of religion, guaranteed under its constitution.

Some 160,000 Eritreans have escaped to neighbouring Sudan, and more than 20,000 have fled across the border into Ethiopia. Thousands more have tried to cross the Red Sea into Yemen.

"Up to 500 Eritreans a week are risking the dangers of minefields, crocodile-inhabited rivers and border guards who've been ordered to shoot to kill," says Release.

"Many are being hounded out, jailed and tortured for no other reason than their Christian faith. Yet those we speak to love their country and want nothing more than to live in freedom as good citizens. Our message to Eritrea is stop the brutality.

"Please add your name to our petition."

Daniel, a refugee, said: "As Christians, we must stand with our brothers and sisters in Eritrea. We must show our love, not only in prayer, but by standing with them. We must tell the world. Our problem is that we are quiet. That's why the world doesn't know what is happening in Eritrea."

Release is helping Eritrean refugees start their own small businesses, and is supporting churches in refugee camps by giving them Bibles and Christian resources.

On the web:
Release's Eritrea petition can be downloaded, or signed at: www.releaseinternational.org/pages/take-action/current-campaign/online-petition.php