From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Dec 10 2009 - 11:03:08 EST
Eritrea says not aware of mass arrest of Christians
Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:10pm GMT
By Jeremy Clarke
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Eritrea said on Thursday it was not aware of reports of
an alleged mass arrest of Christians that a rights group says took place in
the capital Asmara last weekend.
Eritrea's Information Minister Ali Abdu told Reuters by phone that he had
not seen any reports of arrests and that any arrests would not have been
religiously motivated.
"I'll be very honest with you ... if someone is arrested, why is it
significant what religion they are?" Ali said. "If they were arrested, I'm
sure they were committing a crime."
International Christian Concern, a Washington D.C.-based rights group, said
30 "mostly elderly" women had been arrested by security forces while praying
at a house on Saturday.
The organisation said most of the detainees were members of the Faith
Mission Church, an Evangelical Church with a Methodist background.
The rights group said the church had been operating in Eritrea for more than
five decades, but was forced underground in 2002 after the government
required all religious groups to register.
An Asmara-based Western diplomat said the arrests had taken place, but that
there was uncertainty about the number detained.
"There is some confusion on the exact numbers, whether it is exactly 30 who
were imprisoned or somewhere around 25, but the incident is true," the
diplomat told Reuters.
U.S. SAYS "HUNDREDS DETAINED" IN 2009
President Isaias Afwerki told Reuters in an interview earlier this year that
he was protecting the rights of orthodox religions by rejecting those who
would "re-invent them".
Eritrea's population is split between various Muslim and Christian groups.
It has not yet implemented a 1997 constitution that provides for religious
freedom.
Three Christian churches are registered: Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic
and the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea.
The government is suspicious of what it calls radical forms of Islam, along
with numerous smaller Protestant churches, Baha'is and Jehovah's Witnesses.
A recent U.S. report said hundreds of people had been detained in 2009 for
their religious beliefs.
The U.S.-based International Christian Concern said more than 3,000
Christians were being held prisoner, sometimes in underground dungeons or
old metal shipping containers. It said several had died behind bars from
torture or lack of medicine.
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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