Eritrea: Prisoners of Conscience / Torture or ill-treatment
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 64/002/2004

UA 101/04 Prisoners of Conscience / Torture or ill-treatment 09
March 2004

ERITREA Pastor Mengist Tewelde-Medhin (m);
and 55 members of the Hallelujah Pentecostal Christian church

Police and security officers arrested Pastor Mengist Tewelde-Medhin, and 55
women, children and men from the Hallelujah Pentecostal Christian church in the
capital Asmara on 12 February. They were arrested at a religious service in a
private home and most are still being held incommunicado, without charge or
trial, in police stations or army camps. They are allegedly being ill-treated
or tortured in order to force them to abandon their faith.

The head of church, Pastor Mengist Tewelde-Medhin, is reportedly being held at
Adi Abeto military prison near Asmara, in harsh conditions. Like other members
of the church, he is said to be under pressure to abandon his religion. Amnesty
International considers all the detained members of the Hallelujah Pentecostal
Christian church to be prisoners of conscience, who are being imprisoned for
practicing their religion. There are also concerns for their safety as those
held in military custody are at risk of torture, which often includes the
"helicopter" method of being tied in a contorted position in the open air for a
week or more, almost 24 hours a day.

Following their arrest, about 18 church members were taken to Mai Serwa
military prison and punished for evading national service, which is compulsory
for all males and females aged over 18. They are reportedly locked up in metal
shipping containers, where conditions are said to be suffocating and in which
temperatures range from zero degrees at night to 28 degrees in the day.

Amnesty International is also deeply concerned about the unlawful detention and
ill-treatment of children in military or non-juvenile police custody, contrary
to the international and regional child conventions to which Eritrea is a
party– the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the African Charter on
the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

Twenty-five girls and boys were arrested and taken to the main Sawa military
training centre, where they were locked up in a shipping container and forced
to do farm work. Younger children were arrested and held unlawfully in police
custody for several days until their parents were finally allowed to take them
home after being made to sign a statement declaring they would no longer
practice their religion. Older men and women were detained in police stations
without charge or trial and also coerced into abandoning their faith. Some were
subsequently released when they signed a statement in which they promised not
to worship again.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Persecution on the grounds of religion has intensified in Eritrea since the
closure of "minority" Christian churches in May 2002. There have been arrests
in the past year of hundreds of "home worshippers" or military conscripts found
with bibles. No official explanation has been given for the crackdown on the
minority churches, which has not affected the officially-recognized Orthodox,
Catholic and Lutheran churches. The crackdown appears to be partly related to
official action against young people trying to evade military service and
against parents accused of assisting them to hide or flee the country. The
dozen or more minority churches are not linked to the political dissidents in
prison, and only the Jehovah’s Witnesses oppose military service as a matter of
religious principle.

AI Index: AFR 64/002/2004 9 March 2004

Posted to: ????? Reports and Publications

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