ASMARA, Eritrea — Eritrea is again persecuting officially recognized religious bodies with the arrest in late April of five Christians set to be ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Open Doors announced May 1 that security officials in the capital, Asmara, arrested Petros Yosief, Bemnet Tesfay, Aklilu Tesfay, Ermias Hadgu and Aron Mehretu.
In 2005, Eritrean authorities cracked down on the officially recognized Eritrean Orthodox Church, persecuting those who supported a renewal movement within the church and who protested religious persecution.
At its worst point, persecution in Eritrea resulted in an estimated 3,000 Christians incarcerated for their faith by the end of 2010, with most held in shipping containers in desert camps and others in underground cells, according to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin. (TAB)
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