Persecution of Christians in Eritrea continues at a steady pace in spite of international condemnation, the Ecumenical Canonical Orthodox Church Worldwide charged Saturday.
"A significant portion of the Christian population in Eritrea is being severely persecuted for their religious faith and approximately 2,000 to 3,000 Orthodox Christians are being detained in Eritrean prisons," the group said in a prepared statement.
"Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians are also being brutally attacked for their faith," the group said.
Eritrea has been under pressure for several years over allegations of religious persecution.
"In Eritrea last year," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said recently, "a 43-year-old evangelical Christian died in prison; he was reportedly tortured for 18 months and denied treatment for malaria because he refused to renounce his faith."
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance," Article 18 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads.
In May, the State Department appointed an Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom.
Suzan Johnson Cook, former senior pastor of he Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in New York City, took the position and has traveled the world speaking out against religious persecution.
In her 2011 Annual Report, she identified Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam as the worst violators of religious rights.
The report accused Eritrea of "systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations. These violations include: torture or other ill-treatment of thousands of religious prisoners, sometimes resulting in death; arbitrary arrests and detentions without charges of members of unregistered religious groups; a prolonged ban on public religious activities; disruption of private religious gatherings and social events and closure of places of worship of unrecognized religious groups; and inordinate delays in responding to registration applications from religious groups."
(Mike McGuire is a former honorary national vice president of the World Federalist Association and a former member of the board of directors of its San Francisco chapter. Join him on Twitterand/or subscribe to Free United Nations news alerts.)
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