On October 15, security agents arrested Bishop Tsalim at Asmara international airport after arriving from Europe, BBC News reported.
Two Catholic Priests were also among those arrested and detained at Adi Abeto prison alongside Bishop Tsalim, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Agenzia Fides, reported October 18.
Speaking about the reasons for their arrest and detention, a source told ACI Africa, “We really don’t know. But they spoke about human rights violations that are going on in the country right now.”
The members of the Clergy are being accused of highlighting violations of human rights in Eritrea in their homilies, the source further said.
The human rights violations, the source added, include “Imprisonment of parents (women and men), mobilization of deserved army people, young people by force etc. to the war fronts, closing homes, (and) confiscation of animals for those people who have refused to go to war” among others.
In May, officials of several United Kingdom-based Christian entities expressed concern about “continuing unjust” human rights violations in Eritrea.
In a letter sent to the Eritrean Ambassador in the United Kingdom and Ireland, officials of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Church in Chains – Ireland, Release Eritrea, Human Rights Concern – Eritrea, and the Eritrean Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom highlighted multiple indicators of human rights violation and said the situation deters Eritreans from enjoying their independence.
“We remain concerned at the continuing unjust, arbitrary, and indefinite detention of tens of thousands of Eritrean citizens in harsh conditions, including hundreds of Christians imprisoned solely on account of their faith,” officials of the Christian entities said in their May 20 letter addressed to Ambassador Estifanos Habtemariam Ghebreyesus.
In August, the government of Eritrea took over the Hagaz Agro-Technical School (HATS), a Catholic learning institution that the Brothers of the Christian Schools (LaSalle Brothers) established and were running.
The Hagaz Agro-Technical School “has been providing training in farm machinery, rearing of crops and animals, as well as soil conservation for the last 23 years,” the August 24 BBC report indicated.
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