maybe we can get Simon Says to take a look at the years of documentation.

Benji’s story is not unique. There have been numerous stories of Christian persecution coming out of the country and the Eritrean government has a habit of using the Internet to smear and libel anyone who comes forward with such reports.

For you to imply that Benji deserved to be robbed and beaten simply for telling his side of the story really tells me all I need to know about yourself.

And that PBS puff piece tells me absolutely nothing. The majority of American media outlets have lost much of their credibility over recent years, particularly during the last American election cycle.

So what is the truth? Is Eritrea truly a utopia offering religious freedom for all its citizens and fallen victim to a massive conspiracy by evangelical Christians? Or could it be that there are truth to these reports and the government is engaging in a propaganda campaign through the media, the Internet, and proxies to subvert these reports?

Common sense points to the latter.

“In the November sweep, authorities arrested 65 members of the Kale-Hiwot Church in the towns of Barentu and Dekemhare, including 17 women. In Keren and Mendefera, 25 members of the Full Gospel Church were arrested, and 20 Christians belonging to the Church of the Living God in Mendefera and Adi-Kuala were arrested. Church leaders in Eritrea told Open Doors that by mid-December, a total of 2,891 Christians, including 101 women, had been incarcerated for their faith. On June 8, 2008 Compass learned that eight Christians held at the Adi-Quala prison were taken to medical emergency facilities as a result of torture by military personnel at the camp. Eritrean officials have routinely denied religious oppression exists in the country, saying the government is only enforcing laws against unregistered churches.”
via http://www.compassdirect.org

These reports are also validated by the bbc: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3663654.stm Here is a comment by one eye witness Eritrean reader:

“I was doing my national service in Sawa Military training during the period 1999- 2001. During the two years period of my stay in Sawa, I witnessed an enormous amount of beating and torture to individuals who happened to be followers of Jehovah’s Witness and Pentecostal (commonly known as “Pente”) religions. I was, on many occasions, a prison guard to these people. The Jehovas are detained for refusing, according to their faith, to take the military training. But the “Pentes” are usually simply detained for reading bibles, praying in a group, singing gospels etc during the free time, even though they are good soldiers. Once they are detained their head is shaven, like the other criminals in the prison. 20-30 of them are detained in a 3×4 metal-house. They were allowed to go out only for 30 minutes in whole day. The perfect relaxation time for the detainees were when they were taken to load and unloads cement, food etc from trucks. They all prefer this work than to be locked in the container even though it is physically exhausting for them. But the worst time for all of them was during ‘questioning’ time. They were badly beaten to the extent that noses are broken, feet bleed. After the beating comes the notorious ‘helicopter’ torture in which your two legs are tied with your hands on your back. You are thrown in the sun and milk is poured on your body to attract the flies. It was the most inhuman treatment I have ever witnessed
Amanuel, Cape Town, South Africa”

Whether we agree with these believers or not, this side of the story also needs a voice. Thanks again Simon for taking the time to respond.

At the risk of offending some of you, let me try to explain what is going on.
Eritrea has never been and will never be against Christians. Infact, you will find it is the second country to receive Christianity after Armenia in the 4th Century, way before Europe and the rest of the world. Islam was introduced in the 7th century. For centuries equilibrium was reached and in the main people lived side by side peacefully.
Evangelism is nothing new to Eritrea and there is no resistance to it as long as it respected the other religions. Lutheran Evangelism was introduced by the Scandinavians around 1890 and American Evangelism in the 1950.

After independence in 1993, every man and his dog came to preach their religion in a newly open country. With them some undesirable ones who do not recognize earthly government and other religions try to exploit situations. Namely the Saudi funded vile Whabis who desire to overthrow any government that does not work towards Caliphate and the Jehovah’s witnesses who refuse to recognize the government and refused to participate in the Referendum.
The wahabi threat was getting serious when Binladen was funding them hiding in the Sudan. To contain all this problem, the government asked all religious related funding to be declared beforehand and all the religions to register themselves with the government before they continue with their business.

Most of them complied with the registration process and were given permission. The wahabis were banned for obvious reasons, so did the Jehovah’s witness for refusing to recognize the government and refusing to do their obligations as citizens. The American Evangelists rather than recognizing reality on the ground, they refused to register on the grounds of religious freedom. The government pleaded with them to follow the procedure, but they chose to escalate the matter and chose the confrontational route. They went ahead and lobbied the Bush government and put Eritrea with the likes of N.Korea and Saudi Arabia for religious persecution. The government attitude hardened, and told them they can not continue unless they complied. They further escalated the situation, by distributing bibles in secular army barracks etc. and further politicizing the situation.

So lets get things in perspective. People like Benji will avoid or run away from conscription and tell people they are religiously persecuted. In reality the government is trying its best to get the balance right.
It is no rocket science, in the name of religious freedom, evil things can not be allowed to thrive. We have seen that happening in a lot places lately, I am grateful it is not in Eritrea.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/27/boko-haram-nigeria-attacks
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=42407

Any one who doubts things is very welcome to go visit for themselves.
http://www.asmera.nl/asmara-churches.htm