Small Denominations face Persecution in Eritrea

Recent reports from human right groups revealed that believers of minority faiths in Eritrea are continuously persecuted by the local government.

The Eritrea population is equally divided between Christian and Muslim religions. Despite the occasional conflicts between Christians and Muslim, Christians also have to face the governmental restrictions on religious freedom.

Two years ago the Eritrean government introduced a registration system for religions which forced groups to submit information about them in order to be allowed to worship.

The government has also declared the country's four main faiths - Orthodox Christian, Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Evangelical Christian. Apart from these four mentioned, all other faiths have not been recognised.

The BBC have also reported that a Christian Pentecostal Church has been banned from meeting for the past two years. Therefore, secret meetings are held in small groups of around 12 people and this becomes the only time they can sing and pray together.

There have been several times during this kind of meeting when soldiers have forcefully entered the houses and broken up these "forbidden meetings". The congregations were beaten with sticks and then taken to nearby police stations. They were brought into a metal shipping container with nine Jehovah's Witnesses, where the living conditions are extremely bad.

The only way to be released from the container is signing a document of declaration to return to Orthodox Christianity. Otherwise, they will be kept in jail. They were even told they were an enemy of the people.

All of these things are happening repeatedly over and over to people of all different Christian denominations.

Responding to the report, the Eritrean Foreign Ministry released a statement rejecting all the accusations of religious persecutions. The situation is now seen as a great threat to minority faiths.