URGENT ACTION

Eritrea: Fear of torture / fear of ill-treatment / Detention without charge

PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 64/001/2004
18 February 2004

UA 67/04 Fear of torture / fear of ill-treatment / Detention without
charge

ERITREA 28 Jehovah's witnesses

On 24 January 2004 Eritrean police arrested 38 members of the Jehovah’s
Witnesses religion who were holding a religious service in a private home in
the capital, Asmara. Ten were released without charge in the next few days but
28 remain in custody, including children, and a 90-year-old man. Amnesty
International considers them prisoners of conscience, detained solely because
of their religious beliefs.

The Eritrean authorities have not publicly acknowledged the arrests or given
any reason for them. The whereabouts of the 28 are not known, but they are
believed to be held in one of Eritrea’s many secret detention centres.

Amnesty International fears they could be tortured or ill-treated to force them
to abandon their faith, and that those of conscription age (18-40) could be
forced into military service and tortured if, in accordance with the principles
of their faith, they refuse.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Eritrean Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of religion. However,
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrea (who number about 1,600) have frequently been
arrested on account of their faith’s principle of refusing military service. In
1994 the government stripped all members of the religion of basic civil and
political rights. In March 2002, along with at least 12 minority Christian
sects, they were prohibited from practising their religion and were ordered to
register with the Department of Religious Affairs. None of these faiths has
been granted a permit so far and some have refused on principle to comply with
the far-reaching order to disclose details of their membership, foreign funding
and activities. Over 330 members of these faiths who were arrested in 2003 are
detained incommunicado in secret prisons without charge or trial, including
scores of conscripts. Many have been tortured or ill-treated in attempts to
force them to abandon their faith. Former detainees at a secret 8000-inmate
prison on the main Dahlak island in the Red Sea have recently given testimony
that inmates found praying have been tortured, and that bibles and religious
audio-casettes have been burned.

Three Jehovah’s Witnesses have been detained incommunicado in Sawa military
training centre in western Eritrea since 1994, without charge or trial, for
refusing to bear arms. National service is compulsory for all men and women
aged 18 to 40, with no observance of the internationally-recognised right to
conscientious objection. It is supposed to consist of six months' military
service, and 12 months non-military duties. In practice, since the Ethiopian
war (1998-2000), national service has generally turned into indefinite military
service.