Eritrea finally slammed for human rights violations

Shipping containers to hold Christians in Eritrea.

Eritrea (MNN) ― The conclusion of the 20th United Nations session on Friday meant a historic victory for human rights in Eritrea. The U.N. Human Rights Council officially adopted a resolution on Eritrea and approved a mandate for a Special Rapporteur to report on the rights situation, according to ASSIST News Service.

This is the first resolution the HRC has adopted on Eritrea despite a muddy past of religious and human rights violations. This resolution may finally be placing Eritrea on the international radar, says Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs.

"It is a small country. It is not an economic power-house by any stretch. So the world has essentially turned a blind eye and not paid attention to the human rights abuses that have gone on in Eritrea," says Nettleton.

VOM, on the other hand, has paid very close attention to the violations in Eritrea--and with good reason. In 2002, the Eritrean government called church leaders together to tell them their churches would no longer be permitted to meet. A few larger organizations such as the Catholic church, Orthodox Church, and Islamic mosques were still permitted to meet, but smaller groups of believers were forbidden to gather.

Since then, says Nettleton, "Thousands of Eritrean Christians have been arrested. They've been put into the jail system or the military prison system. Some of them have been held in shipping containers literally without running water, without a bathroom--just locked in a shipping container."

Christians are essentially arrested just for being Christ-followers.

"Not a single Christian has been formally charged with any crime," Nettleton explains. "Not a single Christian has been put on trial, has been allowed to have an attorney. None of that. They simply have disappeared into the prison system."

Some have been released months or years later. Others are never heard from again.

Such severe treatment has placed Eritrea at #11 on the Open Doors World Watch List for nations actively persecuting believers. Christian Solidarity Worldwide's Team Leader for Africa and the Middle East, Khataza Gondwe, calls Eritrea's human rights crimes "among the most severe and under-reported in the world."

This new HRC resolution, however, could help change Eritrea's oppressive tune. It has already drawn extra attention since this is the first time that African countries (Somalia, Nigeria and Djibouti) have submitted a resolution on anther African state.

During the last decade of extreme persecution, the Gospel has been moving forward in Eritrea. Believers have not stopped sharing the Good News. But Nettleton points out, "It is coming at a terrible price." Perhaps this resolution will lessen the cost.

Pray that this resolution would be successful and that it would help create instill a miraculous heart change in the hearts of Eritrean government officials. Continue to pray in the meantime for the thousands of believers who remain in chains for their faith.

You can encourage believers imprisoned in Eritrea with letters.Click here to write. 

Christian News Agency’s Open Letter to United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, Points Out Injustices Toward New Believers

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

TEHRAN, IRAN (ANS) -- In a recent open letter to the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, a Christian news agency says a ‘Sword of Damocles’ has been hanging over the heads of new converts to Christianity since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

UN Special Rapporteur Ahmad Shahid. (Photo courtesy FCNN.com)

In its letter to Ahmad Shahid, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, the Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN) www.fcnn.com  , says the death penalty for apostasy in converting from Islam to Christianity is a “Sword of Damocles” hanging over new believers -- and has been since the student-led Revolution in 1979.

As the voice of Christian-Iranians, and the suffering church in Iran, the Farsi Christian News Network, presented its annual report of sufferings among Christian converts, and informed the Special Rapporteur of “some of the realities of the injustices perpetrated against the Christian-Iranian community during 2010.”

FCNN said: “We hope this short list will be a useful contributory factor in your ‘Report on Human Rights situation in The Islamic Republic of Iran’ to the international community.”

The open letter says: “The Islamic Regime in Iran claims that Christianity is a state-recognized religion and its adherents are free to worship according to their faith.”

FCNN states: “This claim of the Islamic Republic is manifestly untrue. Christians in Iran are actively discouraged and under constant pressure not to attend services. Church attendance must be registered, and lists handed over to organs of State Security and local militia.

“Services are ordered to be held only on Sundays, a working day in Iran. Sale and distribution of The Holy Bible and sermons in Persian are forbidden, Christian converts cannot be Baptized, and they are forbidden to enter Churches. Above all they are to follow the Regime’s draconian Public Order and Propaganda requirements to the letter.

“For traditional and pre-revolution churches, compliance with these conditions and clauses are obligatory. If churches follow these mandatory orders, they will by default lose any religious content they have and will not be able to offer any meaningful Christian service, and if they do not follow these authoritarian orders they will face forced closure of the church by organs of Islamic Regime’s State Security.”

FCNN states as a case in point the Shahr-Ara church in North-Western Tehran, which was closed by direct orders of organs of the Islamic Regime for offering Baptismal and religious services to the new converts.

FCNN says the Islamic Republic “claims that Christians are fully represented in the Islamic Parliament by four members of their religion and so enjoy the same rights as the rest of their country folks.”

“This is yet another false claim,” FCNN said.

“These so called representatives are hand-picked by the regime and are primarily used as agents of control and guidance within Armenian and Assyrian communities of Christians,” the agency said.

“These so-called representatives are chosen by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance, and only the few with voting rights can cast their votes for these selected candidates. The Islamic Regime has restricted the community of Christians in Iran to two national groupings of Armenian and Assyrians, while in international circles, with duplicity and deception, claims to be practicing freedom of religion under the Islam.”

The FCNN open letter also says the Islamic Republic claims that there are open and active churches, and freedom of religion, where Christians are free to practice their faith.

“This claim is also one-sided and deceptive, made primarily to deceive the international community. Since the 1979 revolution in Iran, with rapid population growth -- which has more than doubled the populace during the 32 years of Islamic Regime -- not even one new Church building has been allowed to be built. New buildings are not allowed and repairs are to existing buildings are forbidden. Repair restrictions have caused the closure of ‘Kelisaye Jamia’t Rabbani’ in Kermanshah in western regions, and the deliberate destruction of Saint Adreas’ Church of Kerman in central Iran.”

The open letter points out the Islamic Republic “claims equal rights for its Christian citizens with the Moslem majority, free from any institutional discrimination.”

FCNN said: “This is but a bare-faced lie. The relentless pressure on Islamization at educational establishments forces many students to leave before graduation from high schools.

“In Iran, under the yoke of the Islamic Regime, Christians have no opportunity for further education, as non-Moslem students are not eligible for necessary grants and placement. This is particularly more worrying among the new converts to Christianity, as conversion from Islam can quickly lead to expulsion.”

Recent research shows an alarming decline in educational standards amongst Christian-Iranians, FCNN said.

The FCNN letter goes on to say that discriminatory legislations, regime decrees, and orders are far more draconian and restrictive in work place than educational system.

“All cultural, educational, judicial, Military and Police jobs are strictly for ‘conforming and reliable’ Moslems. All governmental jobs are subject to the applicant being a Moslem and the application forms contain a pledge ‘to observe and practice the Sharia.’ All managerial posts are strictly forbidden to Christians and the discovery of a conversion to Christianity is only ever met with dismissal from any job the new convert may have held, no matter high or lowly it might have been.”

FCNN, in its letter, explains that discriminatory laws of inheritance, child custody and/or any financial transactions between and among Christians and Moslems, create an atmosphere of uncertainty, suspicion, and mistrust amongst the community of Iranians.

In financial and business fields, restrictive practices stop any growth and development of Christian-owned businesses, FCNN says.

FCNN concludes: “The Damocles Sword of (the) death penalty for Apostasy from Islam, has been hanging over the collective head of all new converts to Christianity since the 1979 revolution.”

“As UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Situation in Iran, and a champion of human rights everywhere, the Christian community expects you to carefully examine these and numerous other violations of our basic rights, and inform the world, of suffering and plight of Christians under the Islamic Regime.”

---

** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

---

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

UN must follow Syria's Arab League suspension with action

The Arab League's decision to suspend Syria should spur the UN Security Council into action over its abuses, human rights campaigners say.

At an emergency meeting in Cairo today, 18 out of 22 member states voted in favour of suspending Syria's membership of the regional organisation with effect from Wednesday if the government continued to breach the terms of the Arab League's action plan.

"This decision sends a clear signal from the Arab League that the gross human rights violations that continue to be committed against mainly peaceful protesters in Syria must stop," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Director.

"Now that the Arab League has taken decisive action, it is time for the UN Security Council to finally step up to the plate and deliver an effective international response to Syria's human rights crisis."

"The question is whether those countries who have been blocking effective international action on Syria - in particular Russia and China - will recognise how isolated they have become by giving support to a Syrian regime which Amnesty International considers to have been committing crimes against humanity."

Amnesty has called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, impose an arms embargo, and freeze the assets of President Bashar al-Assad and his top associates which are held abroad.

On 5 October 2011, Russia and China used their vetoes to block the passing of a UN Security Council resolution which condemned Syria's crackdown on protesters and left open the possibility of sanctions.

More than 100 people are reported to have been killed since Syria announced last week that it would abide by the action plan it agreed with the Arab League on 30 October. The majority of those killed appear to have been unarmed protesters and bystanders shot by the security forces and army.

[Ekk/3]