Eritrea (MNN) ― Twenty Christians, including some young children, were arrested by Eritrean security forces 17 days ago. Those targeted for arrest are said to be members of the Kale Hiwott Church, one of the churches affected by the government decree of 2002 banning most independent churches. Pastor Michael Abraha was among those arrested. As of this writing, the whereabouts of those arrested remain unknown.
According to the human rights watchdog group Release-Eritrea UK, raiding security forces expected to find Christians participating in a prayer meeting.
However, when they failed to uncover such activity, they decided to detain everyone in the home they had raided as well as others in the surrounding neighborhood.
Voice of the Martyrs' Todd Nettleton explains their concern. "It's not uncommon in the sense that a church was raided, but it is uncommon that they took these children into custody as well. What danger, what threat could these Christian children be to the Eritrean government or to the nation?"
This year marks five years since the government closed all the churches in Eritrea. Since then, two thousand believers have been taken into custody. These numbers mean that approximately one in ten Eritrean evangelicals are presently being detained.
Persecution is intensifying, with deaths now being reported along with detainment. The church, Nettleton says, is ready. "They will respond to this courageously as they have responded to all of the persecution that they have faced in the last five years. They will go forward. They would ask the church in the free world to pray for them and to lift them up."
