ASMARA, Eritrea — Christian teenagers in Eritrea were among 68 Christians jailed and punished the first week of January.
On Jan. 4, military commanders at the national Sawa Military Center conducted a "random check-up on the activities of Christian extremists" among student conscripts. Military personnel found 250 Bibles. After burning all the Bibles before the entire military camp, the commanders arrested 35 of the teenage students and ordered them to be subjected to severe military punishment, including physical torture.
On Jan. 5, police officials in the northern town of Keren took eight government workers into custody. Reports said the interrogations included attempts to force the five men and three women to identify local leaders of Medhane Alem, a renewal movement within the Coptic Orthodox Church. That same day, security police in Assab arrested 25 Christians and subjected them to harsh pressures to try to force them to recant their religious beliefs.
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