Dr. Tekleab Mengisteab
source https://www.facebook.com/hayohannes/posts/10211444820316604
Dr. Tekleab Mengisteab in chains since 2004 and incommunicado! Reason: his determination to remain true to his conscience and faith in Jesus Christ. Reportedly kept in the prison Karcholli you see on my profile picture. Various times I have heard that he has been suffering from various illnesses as the consequences of prison conditions. Where are the faithful; brothers and sisters in Christ of Dr. Tekleab Mengisteab? Prayer without deeds has no meanings.
"When the powerful are silent out of fear or cleverness, the children proclaim God's praise and his power, because otherwise "the stones" would have to cry out"
Rev. Martin Niemoller (read the full letter here below).
Dr. Fitsum Ghebrengus (Jailed since November 2004 and held incommunicado because of his faith in Jesus Christ as a committed clergy of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (Medhane Alem). At the time of his arrest he was the only pschiatrist in Eritrea.
Until his day of arrest, the Rev. Dr. Fitsum was the most senior physician at St. Mary Psychiatric Hospital in Asmara. Dr. Fitsum is a very wise person and as such asked to sit in various commissions, including the Commission on Demobilization. He was married to a beloved wife, Almaz (Diamond) and they have one son, who was a child at the time of the arrest of Dr. Fitsum.
I would like to remember Dr. Fitsum Ghebrengus, whom I had the privilage to meet in London (during his advaced studies in Spain and Pakistan) and later in Asmara, and the other clergy by quoting the late Lutheran pastor, reverend Martin Niemoller (1892-1984). Niemoller was a German U-boat commander in World War I befor he became a Lutheran clergy. Niemoller was memember of the Confessing Church (Bekenende Kirche) in Germany who stood up together with wonderful people like Dr. Dittrich Bonhoeffer (hunged by the Nazi's on the direct order of Hitler) against Nazism. The German Christians supported Hitler but the Confessed Church knew in time that Hitler was not from God and not of God.
Niemoller ignored a ban on his preaching, and was imprisoned or in conentration camps from 1937 to 1945. He survived the concentration camps and the first sermon after his release was with the famous contents:
When they (the Nazi's) came to arrest homoseksuals, I kept quite because I was not homoseksual,
When they came to arrest the communists, I kept quite, because I was not a communist,
When they came to arrest the Johova Witnesses, I kept quite because I was not Johova Witness,
When they came to arrest the Jewish, I looked to the other side, because I was not a Jew,
But when they came to arrest me, there was no one left over to witness..."
In December 1937 Niemoller wrote to his wife, Else, from Moabit prison; unlike Dr. Fitsum, because Almaz, the beloved wife of Dr. Fitsum died last year (2013) in Sweden where she was receiving medical treatement. Dr. Fitsum, if alive at all, was not allowed to write a letter to his beloved wife, to see her, to see their son and not to pay his last respect to her and comfort their son, after her tragic death.
Out of respect for Rev. Dr. Fitsum Ghebrengus, Rev. Dr. Tekleab Mengisteab, Rev. Ghremedhin Ghebregergish, (all jailed incommunicado since November 2004) and Merigeta Yibarek Berhe (jailed since early 2006) and many other countless and "faceless" prisoners of conscience, I quote here what Martin Niemoller wrote to his wife.
Hansjochen is one of Dr. Niemoller's sons. PLEASE REALIZE HERE THAT THE NAZI REGIME IN GERMANY WAS MORE LENIENT TOWARDS ITS PRISONERS THAN THE PFDJ OF ERITREA. PLEASE READ IN THIS LETTER AND ALL THAT IS UNIMAGINABLE IN ERITREA OF ISAIAS AFEWERKI. AM I WRONG?
"WHEN THE POWERFUL ARE SILENT
It is good too that God imprisons someone who can endure it physically and bear it mentally, and someone with whom he still has a few things to work in peace and quiet, so that the time is not wasted on him! And whose wife can endure thanks to a congregation which spoils her - even if somewhat turbulently! Yes, it is a almost frightening to think of all the love that one can not only not repay but that one can spiritually hardly grasp and take in! I receive greetings from the boys and girls in confirmation class (UNTHINKABLE IN ERITREA UNDER PFJD, HY) that are full of an unconscious, pastoral energy. I stand before it as if beholding a miracle, considering that I give decidedly impartial and sober lessons. Then there are the theology students who write a sermon on a postcard to which one can only respond and bow. Then Hansjochen with all his fifteen years brings one - thank God, unknowingly - to ones' senses. When the powerful are silent out of fear or cleverness, the children proclaim God's praise and his power, because otherwise "the stones" would have to cry out.
So it may be that we can celebrate Christmas this year with new confidence that "the great joy" will occur once again TO ALL people! So, love, now you know the general course that I am following."
Lovely Almaz of Rev. Dr. Fitsum can't receive such kind of letter from Dr. Fitsum, because Almaz is gone to her heavenly home. But also it is forbidden for Eritrean prisoners of conscience to write, read, and posses writing materials; to communicate with their family members. Rev. Dr. Tekleab Mengisteab, Reverend Ghebremedhin Ghebregergish, Merigeta Yitbarek Berhe, Patriarch Antonious and countless others are vegetating in prison with all their knowledge and capacity, capability to serve the Eritrea and the Eritrean people....
And you, you are indeed powerful because you can speak out but you keep quite because of either fear or cleverness. It is upto you if want to continue in your cleverness, muwurzay...
The Pictures and the information from Left to Right
REALIZE THAT THE ISSUE IN ERITREA IS ABOUT FREEDOM (OF RELIGION, in this CASE) BUT NOT ABOUT THIS OR THAT GROUP. THESE ARE NOT THIS OR THAT BUT THESE ARE CLERGY OF THE ERITREAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (government-sanctioned! It is a joke!)
Eritrean Orthodox TewahdoOrthodox Priest (2 pictures)
Fr. Ghebre-Medhin Ghebre-Georgis
In chains for his faith since November 2004.
He has never been charged with any offense, nor allowed visitation by family.
No reports of his whereabouts.
Orthodox Scholar,
Merigeta Yitbarek Berhe (Orthodox Priest)
In chains for his faith since early 2006.
He has never been charged with any offense nor allowed visitation by family.
No reports of his whereabouts
Orthodox Priest,