Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that Eritrea has released 70 Christians that they jailed.
Sixty-four of the Christians had no charges and the last six were jailed for worshipping in public. “On 1 February, 21 female and 43 male prisoners were released from Mai Serwa and Adi Abeito prisons, close to the capital city, Asmara. Â The prisoners had been held without charge or trial for periods of between two and 12 years.
On 27 January, six female prisoners who were detained in September 2020 in Dekemhare, south-east of Asmara, were also released. The women were arrested after worshipping in public as they were walking down a street, an event which was caught on camera and circulated via social media.”
Though the move is reportedly welcomed, Christian Solidarity Worldwide believes it could possibly be a distraction to get the international community off of the war waged on the Tigray region. Tigray declared independence from Ethiopia and has been fighting for their right to exist ever since. However, they are not just fighting against their neighboring country of Ethiopia. Eritrea and Somalia have also partnered with Ethiopia in addition to the ethnic Amhara army.
According to Tigray officials, the combined militia has been attacking and killing citizens in the Tigray region. The official disclosed what was happening in an interview published on Ethiopia Hub. “You know, the result became—they have destroyed Tigray, literally, all of them, EPLF, the Eritrean forces and the Ethiopian forces. They literally destroyed all the wealth that it had accumulated for thirty years, and burned schools, clinics, they have ransacked each house. They moved in. They have started looting the produce of the peasants, from all the villages beyond the black road that crosses Tigray towards Eritrea. And they kill whomever they find in whichever village they get in. In the village I was in yesterday—it’s a small village—they killed 21 people, out of which seven of them were priests of that small village,” he said.
Christian Headlines has previously reported that millions are in need of aid due to the war’s ravaging of Ethiopia and Tigray. Additionally, more than 700 Christians were attacked in a church as they were trying to hide from the violence in the region. The residents were reportedly brought out and killed.