Call to Release Eritrean Pastors Held Without Charge for 21 Years
On the UN’s International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, Christian charities including Open Doors UK have renewed calls for the release of seven Eritrean pastors who have been held in prison without charge for over two decades.
Eritrea, often described as the “North Korea of Africa,” ranks sixth on Open Doors’ World Watch List 2025 for the persecution of Christians¹. Though almost half the population identifies as Christian, the authoritarian regime in Asmara recognises only three denominations: the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, and the Lutheran Church. Other groups, especially Evangelicals and members of renewal movements, suffer arrest, harassment, and violent suppression.
Imprisoned Without Trial
The seven detained leaders—Rev. Haile Naizge, Dr. Kuflu Gebremeskel, Rev. Million Gebreselassie, Dr. Futsum Gebrenegus, Rev. Dr. Tekleab Menghisteab, Rev. Gebremedhin Gebregiorgis, and Rev. Pastor Kidane Weldou—have been confined since 2003 in the notorious Wengel Mermera Criminal Investigation Centre, described by survivors as a dungeon-like maximum-security facility².
Tiffany Barrans, Global Advocacy Director at Open Doors International, explained:
“Not one has been charged or brought before a court. They have had no legal representation, and their families have not been permitted to visit them. Their plight epitomises the suffering of thousands of prisoners of conscience currently held without charge or trial in Eritrea.”³
Three of the detainees are Orthodox priests connected to a renewal movement within their church. The former Patriarch, Abune Antonios, refused government demands to shut down the movement and excommunicate its 3,000 members. For this defiance he was deposed, placed under house arrest, and died in 2022 after 15 years in confinement⁴.
Persecution and Protest
Between January and May 2024 alone, more than 120 Christians were detained without charge, according to Open Doors monitoring⁵. A country expert, speaking anonymously for security reasons, stated:
“Anything done by any churches or its members seen as a threat to the absolute control currently in place will be subjected to punishment.”⁶
On Thursday, the campaign group Voices 4 Justice held a prayerful demonstration outside the Eritrean Embassy in London, handing in a letter demanding freedom for the prisoners.
The call for their release remains not only an urgent plea for justice but a reminder that the plight of Christians in Eritrea is emblematic of a broader struggle against authoritarian attempts to silence faith.
¹ Open Doors World Watch List 2025, Eritrea ranked #6.
² Human Rights Watch, Service for Life: State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea (2023).
³ Statement by Tiffany Barrans, Open Doors International, August 2025.
⁴ Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Eritrea: Patriarch Abune Antonios Dies in Custody (9 February 2022).
⁵ Open Doors, Persecution statistics January–May 2024.
⁶ Anonymous Eritrean expert, cited in Voices 4 Justice campaign report, London, August 2025.
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