Release International

Eighty members of a church in Asmara have been hauled into custody -- amid uproar over the government's heavy-handed attempts to quash religious freedom.

The raid on the Mehrete Yesus Evangelical Presbyterian church in the Eritrean capital came at the close of Sunday worship. Two of those detained, who were US citizens, were allowed to remain home -- but there is no news on the other detainees.

They are said to include several women and the church's pastor Rev Zecharias Abraham, who is also head of the Eritrean Evangelical Alliance. Rev Abraham took over from Haile Naizgi, the Full Gospel Church leader who has been incarcerated since May 2004.

The raid came five days after the Eritrean authorities sparked outrage by naming the new patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church -- without giving its clergy any say in the matter. The government claims that Bishop Abba Dioskoros had been 'unanimously approved' by the church's synod: a letter posted on the opposition party's website flatly denies this.

A declaration by the 'priests, monks, deacons and the faithful of the Eritrean Orthodox Church' reads: 'The Eritrean people should be aware that the rights and beliefs of the twomillion-strong church have been flagrantly violated once again; and the hijacking of the church by the government that has been underway for quite some time is now completed.' Ordained patriarch Abune Antonios was stripped of his ecclesiastical authority in August 2005, for protesting when three Orthodox priests were jailed. He has been under strict house arrest ever since. The government imposed a layman in the interregnum.

• Pray for the release of all 80 members of the Mehrete Yesus church in Asmara.
• Pray that the government's very blatant clampdown on religious activity will backfire as the international community puts pressure on it to reform.

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