A small country in the Horn of Africa is home to one of the most oppressive regimes in the world. Known to some as Africa’s “North Korea,” Eritrea has imprisoned hundreds of Christians for blasphemy or apostasy—and some are imprisoned with no charges at all.
Flag of Eritrea / Photo by Aboodi Vesakaran / Creative Commons
May 23 marks 20 years since Pastors Haile Nayzgi and Kiflu Gebremeskel were arrested for their leadership roles in the Full Gospel Church of Eritrea.
“Eritrea is often forgotten in many discussions about the worst persecuting countries in the world,” International Christian Concern’s (ICC) Lily Pelletier told MinistryWatch.
According to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), Nayzgi and Gebremeskel have been denied medical care and communication with their families for the majority of their imprisonment.
Although the current conditions cannot be fully known, former inmates at a prison in Eritrea’s capital reported they were held in shipping containers, each with between 8 and 22 detainees and susceptible to the extreme weather conditions of the desert around them.
“Inmates are subjected to total darkness, which increases their suffering. A torture chamber made of concrete is reportedly located at the back of the containers. [One] detainee…was interrogated and tortured four nights per week for two months,” according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The imprisoned Nayzgi was a leader in the Full Gospel Church which had between 120 and 150 house meeting groups at the time of his arrest.
Gebremeskel holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Chicago and was a leader in the Eritrean Evangelical Association along with his position as a pastor.
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The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) brought the pastors’ plight and “atrocious conditions” of imprisonment to the attention of the Biden administration on May 13.
USCIRF Commissioner Frank Wolf called for the U.S. government to demand the prisoners’ immediate release.
“The safety and well-being of religious prisoners of conscience needs to be a priority for the international community,” Wolf said in a press statement.
Eritrea became an independent nation in 1993 and is governed by President Isaias Afwerki, who has suspended open elections since 1997.
The country has no adopted written constitution, but its draft constitution “prohibits religiously motivated discrimination and provides for freedom of thought, conscience, and belief, as well as the freedom to practice any religion,” a 2024 ICC report said.
However, a proclamation in 2002 gave the Eritrean government more control over all religious activities and required religious groups to register with the government, the ICC report said.
The Eritrean government officially recognizes the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Sunni Islam, the Catholic Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea.
Since the 2002 registration requirement came into effect, no religious groups have successfully been registered. Leaders of the Full Gospel Church of Eritrea attempted to register but never received a reply, VOM said.
“The continued imprisonment of these two pastors is a gross offense to human rights and human decency,” said VOM Vice President Todd Nettleton. “Any claim President Isaias Afwerki and the Eritrean government make about religious freedom within their borders is a ridiculous sham.”
“Christians in Eritrea have no right to gather for worship, publish Christian books and magazines, produce Christian music or distribute Bibles and Christian tracts,” Open Doors US CEO Ryan Brown told MinistryWatch by email.
“They are not allowed to share their Christian faith with any other Eritrean at work, school or military camps. Doing this may land them in prison,” he said.
“The world needs to wake up to the atrocities taking place in Eritrea today,” ICC’s Africa regional director said of the country’s treatment of Christians. “Not only are Christians imprisoned, tortured, and killed, but the everyday person lives under the oppression of an authoritative regime, dictated by Isaias Afwerki, a ruthless leader with a totalitarian agenda.”
Christians can pray for the safety and protection of their brothers and sisters imprisoned in Eritrea and bring their plight to public attention through social media. VOM has suggested social media posts on its website.
ICC has additional policy and advocacy recommendations that may aid Christians in Eritrea, including engaging with neighboring African nations to help them recognize the danger of authoritarian regimes.
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