Eritrea is one of the most repressive regimes in the world. The government seeks to exercise total control over its citizens and jails anybody it deems to be a dissenter. These repressive policies are responsible for thousands of Eritreans fleeing their nation on a monthly basis.

• Sunday 29 July

In early 2018, CSW learned that two elderly Jehovah’s Witnesses had died in prison. They’d been detained without charge or trial since 2008, and both are survived by their families. Today, please ask God to comfort the families in their grief.

• Monday 30 July

In May CSW joined other human rights organisations and the Eritrean diaspora for our annual prayer and protest vigil outside the Eritrean Embassy in London to remind the Eritrean government that the world has not forgotten the people it persecutes. The following week we co-organised a closed hearing in Parliament on religious persecution in Eritrea. Pray that one day we will not be highlighting persecution, but celebrating freedom.

• Tuesday 31 July

Please continue to pray for Patriarch Antonios, the head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church. Now in his 90s, he has been under house arrest for over a decade; priests loyal to him are imprisoned, the most recent being Abba Ameha, a monk who had called for the patriarch’s release and reinstatement.

• Wednesday 1 August

 In the wake of peace with Ethiopia, the Eritrean government has spoken of demobilising conscripts.  Pray that this indeed occurs, and that  secondary schooling, which is currently completed in a military training camp, is normalised and for the reopening of the country’s closed universities.

• Thursday 2 August

Two long-term prisoners were recently confirmed to have been released. Respected Orthodox scholar Merigeta Yitbarek Berhe had been in detention since 2006, and Rev Oqbamichael Tekle-Haimanot had been detained since 2007, and is reportedly in poor physical condition. Pray for healing, provision and protection for these men, and that theirs may be the first releases of many.

• Friday 3 August

Despite a shoot-to-kill border policy, countless people every day decide to flee Eritrea’s harsh and restrictive regime. Many of them then fall into the hands of human traffickers or are deported back to the country they desperately tried to escape. Pray for all Eritrean escapees today, and for somewhere safe for them to rest..

• Saturday 4 August

Lord God, when we hear about the terrible situation in Eritrea it can seem as if change is impossible: but we know that nothing is impossible for you. We pray that you would release every prisoner and bring healing to those who have been broken in body, mind or spirit, and to the land itself. Amen.