Open Doors, an international Christian rights group with close knowledge about her situation, said Nigsti Haile, 33, died Wednesday, September, 5, at the Weaa Military Training Centre "as a result of torture for refusing to sign a letter recanting her faith."
Haile was among a group of 10 single Christian women who had reportedly been arrested at a
church gathering in Keren, the third largest city in Eritrea north west of the capital Asmara. She spent "18 months imprisoned under severe pressure," Open Doors said.
Open Doors reported on August 21 that the group of 10 single Christian women, who had all been arrested 18 months ago, were separated from other prisoners and taken to Weaa Military Training Centre where they allegedly "underwent torture after they refused to sign a letter recanting their faith."
ACTIVE EVANGELICAL
Before her arrest Haile studied to complete eleventh grade of her high school education and was an active member of the evangelical Rhema church, Open Doors said.
The reported killing of Haile was expected to underscore international concern about reports of persecution of Eritrean Christians. "During the past year, at least four Christians have died from physical mistreatment while under arrest," Open Doors explained.
At least 2,000, predominately Christian evangelicals, are detained in Eritrean prisons, police stations, military camps and other facilities, including even shipping containers, according to several human rights groups and church sources. The Eritrean government has denied human rights abuses.
In published remarks the Director of the Office of the President, Yemane Gebremeskel, said recently that reports of mass arrests are "distorted and exaggerated." He said in Eritrea "people have never been prevented from their right to worship freely," BosNewsLife learned.
President Isaias Afewerki was elected president of independent Eritrea by the national assembly in 1993, but he has been failing to implement democratic reforms, secular and Christian observers say.
GOVERNMENT DENIAL
"The government keeps denying that the persecution is taking place. But that is not the truth.
There are at least 2,000 reasons for praying for our imprisoned brothers and sisters in Christ,"
confirmed Open Doors USA President Carl Moeller in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife.
Most were detained after the Eritrean government banned all independent Protestant churches in May 2002, closing their buildings and preventing them from even meeting together in private homes.
Open Doors suggested it was concerned that more prisoners, including priests and pastors, would be killed because of torture. They, "remain locked up and [are] subjected to severe torture for their religious beliefs in the nation’s jails, police stations and military camps. All have been denied legal counsel or trial, with no written charges filed against them," the group stressed in a statement seen by BosNewsLife.
"We need to keep up our prayer vigil for the Christians in Eritrea," said Moeller. "Eritrea is a small country in Africa, but that doesn’t mean the persecution is less intense than in larger countries." Christianity has often been viewed by autocratic leaders as a threat to their powerbase or ideology, Christian rights watchers say. (With BosNewsLife Monitoring and reporting from Eritrea).
