International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that three Christians have been tortured and killed in Eritrea for refusing to denounce their faith.

Eritrea's one-party communist regime has reportedly arrested around 2,000 Christians since 2002 and often imprisons them in metal containers. The country is listed ninth on the ICC Hall of Shame, which lists the worst persecutors of Christians in the world.

The three latest victims of the regime were arrested because they were not members of one of the approved Christian churches in the country - the Roman Catholic Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Lutheran Orthodox Church.

ICC said one of those killed was a woman who was tortured until she was given the option of being killed or signing a document denying her faith. Two men were also given the same choice.

Two of the three victims were deliberately exposed to malaria and offered medicine if they denied their faith. ICC said all three refused the offer and have been killed.

ICC is calling on Christians to remember the victims of persecution and their families in their prayers.