Wednesday, September 12, 2007

VOM, Eritrea:

On September 5, Eritrean authorities tortured to death 33-year-old Nigsti Haile for refusing to recant her Christian faith while being held at the Wi'a Military Training Center. Haile is the fourth Christian killed in Eritrea in less than a year. Compass Direct News reported, "She was one of 10 single Christian women arrested at a church gathering in Keren. They have spent 18 months under severe pressure. Haile was killed for refusing to sign a letter recanting her faith." In May 2002, government officials called in the leaders of all evangelical churches in Eritrea and told them they would not be permitted to hold further public services. Only the "historic religions" of Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Islam have been allowed to hold public worship since that time. Compass Direct says that more than 2,000 Eritrean Christians are imprisoned. Not a single one of them has been formally charged or had a public trial, and all have been denied legal representation. Amnesty International released a report yesterday that said most of the more than 2,000 imprisoned Christians have been held for more than two years in harsh conditions, with little or no medical care. Pray for the Holy Spirit to comfort the family of Nigsti Haile. Ask God to protect and encourage Christians in Eritrea, especially believers imprisoned because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aaron,

I commend you for trying to defend Christianity, but the story does not make sense. Christianity makes half of the population.

I am a christian Eritrean and contrary to many stories that I keep seeing on the internet, Eritrea is divided 50:50 between Christians and Moslems population. The current rulers are mainly a mixture of both but the President is Christian.
Do you see my point ?
There is no doubt repression on religions that are considered non native exists. Evangelism fall in to that catagory.

Sarah

Aaron said...

Sarah,

That is very interesting to hear your perspective as a local Christian. Your facts square well with Wikipedia , provided we include the Catholic/Oriental Orthodox population in the category "Christian".

I myself am only quoting from The Voice of the Martyrs. It is my understanding that they are usually working with embedded news sources, and that their reporting is accurate and factual.

Here's another recent report on Eritrea that may be of interest to you.

Thank you for your comment, and God Bless.