Faith versus Eritrean law: “No guns please, we are Jehovah’s Witnesses”

In Eritrea, the situation is different. Since independence in 1991, military service has been compulsory for all able-bodied persons, with men required to provide at least ten years and women five.

Read: Eritrea won't shorten national service despite migration fears

This week, the Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses in East Africa said that the Eritrean authorities have used the rule to persecute its members who are reluctant to carry guns or take part in combat, a mistreatment they say has lasted three decades.

The group was forced to speak publicly about the issue after two dozen of its believers, including elderly women and a pregnant woman, were rounded up at a worship centre in September.

“It hurts us deeply to know that so many of our believers have died or spent many years in prisons,” said Victor Karoki, national spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kenya.

“The persecution does not just affect Jehovah’s Witnesses. It also negatively impacts the general Eritrean public, because young Witnesses are languishing in prison rather than working for the betterment of their communities,” he told The EastAfrican.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki issued a decree three years after the country seceded from Ethiopia to strip citizenship and access to essential services to all Jehovah’s Witnesses for refusing military service. Those who are found practising the faith are often rounded up and detained.

‘No one is spared’

The decree also bars the faithful permission to leave the country by denying them the exit visas that Eritrea grants to citizens leaving the country. 

This week, the association publicly urged President Afwerki to repeal the decree, asking him to restore the rights of a community denied the freedoms most people take for granted.

The Eritrean government says the decree is part of a legal regime everyone adheres to. Beyene Russom, Eritrea’s ambassador to Kenya, told The EastAfrican that the accusations of human rights violations are not new, but were being recycled to cast his country in a bad light.

“I hope you understand what national military service means. No one is spared. The nation comes first,” he told The EastAfrican, accusing the movement of reviving old accusations.

“If you had read a little about Eritrea’s history, its eight decades of struggle and the sacrifices it has paid, you would have completely ignored the history.”

According to him, Eritrea will always defend its sovereignty, justice and security as a matter of priority.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, say that some of those detained have been locked up for as many as 20 years without charge, a form of life imprisonment.

“Unfortunately, there’s no mechanism to compel the authorities to release them. Nevertheless, we urge the Eritrean government to consider releasing these individuals, or, at the very least, to bring formal charges. Many have been imprisoned without facing any accusations in court, left uncertain about how long they will remain detained,” said Mr Karoki.

Eritrea has since stepped up its crackdown, targeting the faithful while they are younger, which Witnesses say includes expulsion from school or confinement.

Conscientious objection

The issue has once reached the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). A 2015 resolution called for these basic rights to be upheld. It was ignored.

Dorothy Muya, representing Lawyers Associated for Human Rights in Africa, Asia, and the Americas (Lahra), said that freedom of worship and religion is a fundamental right that should not be violated for security needs.

“The persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrea has been ongoing, for the last 30 years. The reports of the rapporteurs have consistently urged the authorities in Eritrea to respect the rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” said Ms Muya, referring to a decision in 2014 for the UN to name a special rapporteur on Eritrea.

Lahra filed a formal complaint with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2018. Following the complaint’s acceptance, the court called on Eritrea to promptly address these human rights abuses. However, the complaint remains under review.

In April 2022, Lahra also appealed to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child due to the severe treatment of Jehovah’s Witness children.

“In some cases, children have faced physical abuse, expulsion from schools and separation from their parents because of their religion. This appeal also awaits action,” she said.

A report by Sheila B. Keetharuth, the rapporteur on Eritrea, urged the authorities to respect the right to conscientious objection “in accordance with international norms” and to “guarantee the physical integrity of all prisoners; ensure access to medical treatment for those in need; ...and improve the conditions of detention in accordance with international standards.” 

In a 2015 resolution, the UNHRC called on the government of Eritrea to “provide for conscientious objection to military service.”

Prison deaths

Human rights activists say since 1994, 270 men, women, and children have been detained in brutal conditions as part of a programme to dissuade believers and force them to renounce their faith.

“This started as early as 1993 and 1994, even before the presidential decree was issued. We wanted to clarify our neutral stance, but that opportunity was never granted.

“Over the years, even our association, which represents over 1.5 million Jehovah’s Witnesses in Africa, has sought diplomatic engagement with the authorities, but a meeting has yet to materialise. Efforts have continued to seek an amicable resolution to this matter,” said Noah Munyao of the Africa Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In 2018, two elderly Witnesses—Habtemichael Tesfamariam and Habtemichael Mekonen—died in Mai Serwa Prison after being held without charge for nearly ten years. Their deaths followed earlier tragedies: Misghina Gebretinsae and Yohannes Haile, two elderly men who died after enduring nearly four years in the Meitir prison camp, notorious for its “underground” punishment areas where heat and deprivation hastened their deaths.

- Additional reporting by Aggrey Mutambo.