His Holiness the late Pope Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria
Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark
3 August 1923 – 17 March 2012I would like to openly express my deep gratitude for the memory of His Holiness whose existence served as an example of just and ethical behaviour; he was a brave man who was once imprisoned for four years during the Anwar Sadat era of Egypt for standing by his people and refusing to abandon his values.
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Still Waiting for Sanctions on Eritrea for Human Rights Abuses

 As we celebrate International Human Rights Day, we welcome the Security Council Sanctions on Eritrea as a means of bringing to light some of the human rights abuses being perpetrated every day on Eritreans in Eritrea and in some of the countries they flee to, but we would welcome a more human-rights based approach focussing on the internal terrorism inflicted on the Eritrean people.

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Notorious Human Smuggler Shot Dead; 611 Eritreans Released
Posted on November 17, 2011 by Gedab News

Suleiman Abdellah Necklawi, aka “The Sultan”, a notorious Egyptian human smuggler, was killed in a shoot-out by Bedouins of another tribe. Consequently, according to the UNHCR and EveryOne Group, 611 Eritrean refugees who had been held hostage in Egypt’s Sinai have crossed safely to Israel.

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What you are about to read is a transcript of an interview given to Human Rights Concern – Eritrea by Mr Eyob Bahta who was a prison guard from September 2001 until his escape from Eritrea in 2010.

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A few months ago, a number of workers from Bisha-Nevsun Project (owned by the Eritrean government and Canada’s Nevsun Resources Ltd.) have managed to escape to Ethiopia, and they are now living in one of the refugee camps located in Tigray. Two of them, Abadi Ghebremeskel and Legesse Berhe, have been extensively interviewed so far. HRCE (Human Rights Concern Eritrea) has kindly provided us with the audio version of those interviews. In due time, we will provide the video version of the interview. Since the interviews are about three hours long and conducted in Tigrigna language, below we are summarizing them in English in a categorical manner, supplemented with our interpretation of what is going on the ground based on the data extracted from the interviews. The content of this summary depends on the interviews in the audios and follow-ups.
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CAIRO/TEL AVIV, 7 June 2011 (IRIN) – Sarame* had looked forward to leaving Eritrea with her husband and living a better life in Israel, until they found themselves kidnapped for money by local Bedouins in Egypt’s Sinai desert.

“They threatened to kill me and my husband if we did not pay,” she said. “They did not beat me, but other people were told to take off their clothes and were beaten. At the end, they separated the women from the men; they came in the night and took two girls. When the girls came back they were crying. The others did not ask what happened to them because they knew they had been raped.”
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The Eritrean government in its usual high-handed way has fallen foul of the British authorities in an attempt to treat British citizens with the same inhuman and illegal disdain that it extends to its own populace. For more than five months, four Britons have been detained incommunicado without access to any consular services or legal help. »

I am alarmed that unsubstantiated reports originating with the Everyone Group in Rome have been irresponsibly published on the internet and dispersed elsewhere: (article can be found here) »

Press Release

Eritrea: Human Rights Council Must Increase Attention to Widespread and Systematic Violations

14^th March 2012

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TO THE MEMBERS OF THE KNESSET COMMITTEE IN ISRAEL WHO HAVE ENDORSED THE ANTI-INFILTRATION BILL
The text of the bill contains the following provisions: Automatic Criminalization of any person’s entry into Israel without a permit – with no discernment or consideration of the circumstances of his or her entry.

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 The Security Council,Recalling its previous resolutions and statements of its President concerning the situation in Somalia and the border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea, in particular its resolutions 751 (1992), 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009), 1907 (2009), 1916 (2009), 1998 (2011), and 2002 (2011), and its statement s of 18 May 2009 (S/PRST/2009/15), 9 July 2009 (S/PRST/2009/19), 12 June 2008 (S/PRST/2008/20),
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Read the full Briefing here

Elsa Chyrum’s speech during a side-meeting at the HRC’s 18th Session, Room XXIII – Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland on 20 September 2011
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Human Rights Concern Eritrea (HRCE), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) today called upon the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to conduct a thorough investigation into the wide-ranging human rights violations committed in Eritrea.
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There has recently been a concerted campaign to rally Erirteans in diaspora in protest against the Security Council sanction imposed on Eritrea.

This has involved thousands of emails, faxes, phone calls and signatures on petition brought about by the usual regime cadres, supporters and in the embassies exercising their authority on diaspora Eritreans.
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A protest vigil was held outside the Eritrean Embassy on Thursday 26th May 2011 to remember those who have been imprisoned for religious reasons over the past nine years . In 2002, Minority Christian Churches in Eritrea began to be closed down and worshippers to be persecuted. This persecution extended itself over the years to Orthodox Church leaders and worshippers. Patriarch Antonius has been under house arrest since 2006, with no access to medical care despite his bad health. At least three other leaders are also imprisoned. »

Four Eritrean refugees were burnt to death, and one was critically injured, after their tents were deliberately set on fire at a Tunisian refugee camp close to the Libyan border in the early hours of Sunday 22 May. »

As an activist for Human Rights Concern – Eritrea, I believe that we have to fight against the tyranny of Isaias Afewerki’s regime in any way possible – but, I don’t believe in demonstrating just for show. »