Eritrea
Few persecuted Christians find refuge in US, new report finds
By Bob Smietana — September 25, 2023
(RNS) — A new reports finds that the number of Christian refugees coming to the US has declined at a time when persecution is on the rise.
Religious freedom watchdog seeks Eritrea’s release of 80-year-old Jehovah’s Witness
By Adelle M. Banks — October 14, 2022
(RNS) — A Jehovah’s Witnesses spokesman said that ‘there is growing concern that Tesfazion may not live long enough to ever be reunited with his family and friends.’
Eritrean Orthodox patriarch dies after 16 years in detention
By Fredrick Nzwili — February 11, 2022
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Abune Antonios had been in solitary confinement for his resistance to government interference in the church.
Jehovah’s Witnesses’ release in Eritrea a rare sign of religious toleration
By Fredrick Nzwili — December 10, 2020
(RNS) — The release of 28 Witnesses follows the freeing of 20 Pentecostal and evangelical Christians who had been imprisoned for their faith.
Trump curbs immigration for 6 nations in election-year push
By Colleen Long and Nomaan Merchant — January 31, 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Friday that it was curbing legal immigration from six additional countries that officials said did not meet security standards, as part of an election-year push to further restrict immigration.
Eritrean Christians released from shipping container prisons
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald — July 24, 2018
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) – For the last two decades, Eritrean authorities have persecuted religious groups, frequently arresting church leaders and detaining them in small shipping container prisons where advocates say they're routinely deprived of water, food, proper sanitation and medicines.
In Israel, a rabbinical plan to hide Africans facing deportation
By Lauren Markoe — January 18, 2018
JERUSALEM (RNS) — 'If someone had told me 10 years ago this would happen, I’d have said a Jewish state would never send desperate refugees away to their deaths,' said Rabbi Susan Silverman, sister of comedian Sarah Silverman.
Stripped of his title and illegally replaced, Eritrea’s spiritual leader languishes in detention
By Thomas Reese — July 19, 2017
(RNS) What did Patriarch Abune Antonios do? He refused to betray his flock. He refused to betray his conscience. And he refused to betray his religious beliefs.
US commission: Russia a major violator of religious freedom
By Lauren Markoe — April 26, 2017
WASHINGTON (RNS) A dissenting report criticizes the commission for failing to investigate Israel.
Congo-born priest resigns from German parish after racist threats
By Rosie Scammell — March 8, 2016
(RNS) Olivier Ndjimbi-Tshiende was harassed after he criticized a local politician who talked about an “invasion” of Eritrean refugees.
Eritrean gospel singer Helen Berhane was tortured for her beliefs. Now she’s speaking up.
By Rosie Scammell — December 29, 2015
ROME (RNS) Berhane spoke recently at a Rome conference on Christian persecution in the hopes others might learn of the grievous human rights violations in her native land.
Meet the Nobel-nominated priest who rescues African refugees from Mediterranean
By Fredrick Nzwili — October 13, 2015
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) Mussie Zerai, a 40-year-old Catholic priest from tiny Eritrea in North Africa, is getting recognition for his work rescuing African refugees in the Mediterranean.
Eritrea’s gross religious freedom violations force many to flee, UN report says
By Fredrick Nzwili — June 10, 2015
(RNS) The religious abuses are among a host of widespread human rights violations that are forcing its citizens to undertake deadly voyages to Europe through North Africa, the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights said.
Italians help flood of refugees in Pope Francis’ vision of ‘a church for the poor’
By Rosie Scammell — May 14, 2015
CATANIA, Italy (RNS) Stretched to the limits by the scores of refugees who arrive daily, Italian Catholics are trying to embody Pope Francis' call to build "a church for the poor."
Page 1 of 1
