The body of a Christian mother of three, who died in detention in Eritrea in August, showed signs of torture that could have contributed to her death.
Eritrean authorities arrested Fikadu Debesay and her husband in the southern town of Adi Quala as part of a crackdown in May, when at least 122 Christians were detained for worshipping in unregistered churches. She died in detention north of the capital, Asmara, at Metkel Abiet, a camp in the Northern Red Sea Region where prisoners are held in harsh desert heat.
Children traumatised
A relative said that one of the children remarked: ‘Our parents were picked up by unknown people while we were praying at home, only for our mum to come back in a coffin. Where is our dad?’ The traumatised children are restless, have trouble sleeping at night and frequently scream. ‘We request prayers and financial support for the children,’ a source said.
Christians practising their faith secretly in homes – outside the officially sanctioned Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran denominations, along with Sunni Islam – have been the target of arrest and imprisonment in cruel conditions in Eritrea since 2002.
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, who has headed a communist-influenced government since 1994, has imposed a ‘reign of fear through systematic and extreme abuses of the population that may amount to crimes against humanity,’ according to a United Nations panel. Amnesty International estimates that Afwerki has incarcerated 10,000 political prisoners and that, under his rule, torture for punishment, interrogation and coercion in Eritrea is widespread.
