In April this year, 103 students were arrested while trying to record a Christian worship song to share online. As we go to print, 52 are still in prison.
‘My life is in your hand,’ sings a group of young Eritrean Christians in a worship video on YouTube. It is a beautiful, uplifting song about praising God, who knows all our cares and concerns. Yet public or private acts of worship, outside the parameters of Eritrea’s three permitted denominations, put any participants at risk.
While trying to record a second worship video to share online, 103 young Eritreans were arrested in mid-April 2023. Many of them were students, some from the only higher education institute in the country. During the annual prayer vigil co-organised by CSW in May, Selam Kidane of Release Eritrea explained that they had ‘the very rare and very special privilege of studying, rather than carrying guns.’
This case is yet another reminder of the sad reality of life in Eritrea for religious and belief communities over the past 21 years. The Eritrean regime remains among the worst human rights violators in the world, and is deemed by a UN Commission of Inquiry to have been committing atrocity crimes since 1991.
An infamous detention facility
Detention facilities in Eritrea include shipping containers, underground cells or simply the open air in the desert. They are unsanitary; food and drinkable water are in short supply, and medical attention is insufficient and often withheld as punishment.
Mai Serwa prison, where the 103 Christians were taken, is no exception. It is infamous for its shipping containers, extremely unsanitary conditions, overcrowding and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Information about the remaining students’ wellbeing is limited, so we continue to pray, knowing that God sees them. He is close to them and is more than able to provide what they need at any given moment.
Echoes of Helen Berhane’s case
Almost two decades ago, the gospel singer Helen Berhane was held in Mai Serwa; long-term supporters may remember her case. She was caught teaching young Christians in secret, arrested, and eventually imprisoned in a shipping container in Mai Serwa. Freezing cold at night and burning hot by day, she also endured hunger, beatings and torture.
Despite this, she repeatedly refused to recant her faith.
Helen was released 32 months later, in 2006, having been beaten almost to death. Miraculously, she managed to escape the country while still unable to walk properly, and is now a fearless advocate for those who are still suffering in Eritrea. She also assists victims of violations committed by Eritrean forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Freedom is possible
One of the key ways we respond to the situation in Eritrea is with prayer, and many of you have joined us for the annual protest vigil we co-organise with Church in Chains Ireland, the Eritrean Orthodox Church in the UK, Human Rights Concern Eritrea, and Release Eritrea.
Helen is now a CSW board member, and also attends the prayer vigil. During this year’s online event, several people shared how they had prayed for Helen’s release, all those years ago: ‘My daughter, who was so little then, used to pray for Helen regularly. She is now in her twenties.’
Another added, ‘I remember Helen's story and her eventual release from prison. I thank God for her deep faith and courage, and she is here helping us remembers those in prison today.’
While the ongoing arrests show how little has changed over the past decades – and in many ways, the human rights situation has deteriorated even further – we can look at Helen and remember God’s power to deliver. We can also thank God for the release of 51 of the 103 students in early September; 42 women and nine men. May this stir us to continue praying with the hope and conviction that freedom for others is indeed possible.
As Helen sang at the close of the prayer vigil, in a moving song about the cost of being a Christian: ‘We never stop following Jesus and doing the good job of justice and righteousness.’