been released, a news report said Wednesday, November 9.
Christian news agency Compass Direct said Pastor Oqbamichael Tekle-Haimonot was released on bail from his attention at the Sawa military training center. A minister in the Kale Hiwot (Word of Life) Church, Haimonot had suffered a severe breakdown last May after being subjected "to solitary confinement, hard labor and other physical and emotional mistreatment at Sawa," Compass Direct said.
Christians jailed in a separate police raid against 25 other Kale Hiwot Church members at their church headquarters in Asmara five weeks ago were also released on bail Tuesday, November 8, from a police station in the capital Compass Direct reported.
Haimonot’s health improved "significantly" since his release, a fellow Protestant was quoted as saying. "He is in good spirits," the unidentified source apparently on condition of anonimity for security fears.
CONTROVERSIAL DOCUMENT
Bail conditions for the pastor’s release allegedly required that he signed a document prepared by military authorities that he would not attend any "illegal Christian meetings in the future."
Since May 2002, the Eritrean government has banned any religious worship gatherings apart from those of the officially recognized Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Muslim faiths, closing all independent churches. Authorities reportedly also cracked down on small, home prayer groups and Protestant wedding ceremonies in public halls.
Haimonot was arrested in Barentu on January 9 with two other evangelical pastors and 64 of their church members, all of whom were then sent to Sawa for “military punishment” for participation in “illegal religious activities.”
ESCORTING BRIDE
The group of Protestants had been escorting a bride to her wedding ceremony when security police halted the procession and jailed them all, including the bride and groom, Compass Direct said.
Within four months, many of the elderly and young children among those arrested were released after posting substantial bail payments, but only Haimonot and five other evangelicals were refused release, the news agency said.
The recent releases drop the total number of Eritrean Christians known to be jailed in police stations, military training camps and prisons by the government of President Isaias Afwerki down to 1,752, Compass Direct claimed.
JAILED PASTORS
At least 26 full-time Protestant pastors and Orthodox clergy are among them, some held in underground cells and metal shipping containers under torturous conditions, human rights groups say. The government has denied human rights abuses
Even the Eritrean Orthodox Church, dating back to the fourth century, has come under direct government fire since August, when Patriarch Abune Antonios was stripped of his ecclesiastical authority and relegated to a ceremonial role, Compass Direct reported.
The patriarch reportedly remains under virtual house arrest, reportedly for protesting the arrest of three ordained Orthodox priests and resisting other government interference in church affairs. (With Reports from Eritrea)
