Seventy Christian prisoners, all members of banned Protestant churches, were released from Mitire Military Concentration Camp on Friday, April 17. Among the seventy released are eleven women, who were all imprisoned for six months allegedly for not completing their eighteen months of military service.
The seventy released prisoners, who have been arrested in Asmara, Dekemhare, Keren, Massawa and Mendefera and transported to Mitire Military Concentration Camp for Military punishment, were simply told to go home. They have no idea why they were released while around 2,800 religious prisoners remain captive across the nation.
In a report on the abuse of human rights in the small East African nation of Eritrea, the news agency, Reuters, quoted a Human Rights Watch (HRW) statement that Eritrea's government was turning the Red Sea state into a “giant” prison with underground cells and metal shipping containers awaiting any dissenters. In its statement, the New York-based HRW said that Eritrea's “extensive” use of torture, illegal jailing and indefinite military conscription was creating a human rights crisis there.
HRW - in their report entitled "Service for Life: State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea" - said Asmara's national service programme was itself a crime.Under Eritrean law, any citizen between the ages of eighteen and forty must complete eighteen months of military service, but in practise it can be extended indefinitely, rights groups say. Eritrea says it needs to keep large numbers of people in the military, because of its tense stand-off with neighbouring Ethiopia, following the 1998-2000 border war.
Eritrea restricts exit visas and passports of military-eligible men and women under 50 and 47 respectively. “Many if not most political prisoners and those detained for trying to flee the country or for practising illegal religions are held incommunicado in appalling conditions, often underground or in metal shipping containers,” the group said.
Reuters again confirmed Asmara’s denial of reports from foreign-based rights groups such as HRW. The government claims they are pawns of western powers bent on undermining Eritrea's sovereignty. Rights groups have accused Asmara over the years of becoming increasingly repressive and authoritarian following a 2001 crackdown that saw hundreds rounded up.
1. Praise the Lord for the release of the seventy Christian prisoners. Pray for them and their families as they reunite.
2. Please pray for more than 2,800 Christian prisoners across Eritrea who are suffering terribly for their faith. Pray for the Lord’s protection and provision for them. Pray that they will experience the Lord’s wisdom as they interact with their persecutors and that He will keep them strong in the faith despite their circumstances.
3. Pray for all family members of prisoners. Pray for the Lord’s sustaining grace on and provision for them as many have lost their breadwinners.
4. Please pray especially for the mental health of the people imprisoned in the containers. Those who have experienced this, have called it “maddening”.
5. Food conditions, not only in prison but across Eritrea, are worsening. Pray that the Lord will continue to provide for His children despite the famine and the restrictions.
6. Many young Eritreans are fleeing the country, meeting serious threats and dangers on their way. Pray for the many youngsters who have fled and now find themselves in places like Ethiopia, Egypt and Lybia, trying to survive - often as illegal refugees.
7. Please pray for the government of Eritrea. Pray that the Lord would miraculously bring them to repentance.
