Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ASMARA902
2007-11-27 04:20:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Asmara
Cable title:
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION VICTIM STILL HARASSED BY GSE
how-toVZCZCXRO6165 PP RUEHROV DE RUEHAE #0902 3310420 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 270420Z NOV 07 FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9284 INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1524 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1702 RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0031 RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000902
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI KIRF ER
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION VICTIM STILL HARASSED BY GSE
Classified By: CDA Jennifer A. McIntyre, for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000902
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI KIRF ER
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION VICTIM STILL HARASSED BY GSE
Classified By: CDA Jennifer A. McIntyre, for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).
1. (C) An Embassy locally employed staff member (LES)
continues to be harassed by officials of the Government of
the State of Eritrea (GSE),following his July arrest on
religious grounds and release a month later. A member of the
unregistered Full Gospel Pentecostal Church, the GSE informed
the employee that his release was conditional upon his
signing a statement in which he agreed to recant his faith
and to choose a "customary" Eritrean religious faith (See
reftel). The employee reported to Emboff that on November
19, GSE officials (presumably agents from the Office of
National Security) came to his home and asked him why he
continued to attend church and proselytize after signing the
form that secured his release. The officials asked if he had
renounced his religion, to which he responded "no". The
officials then confiscated his bible and a video tape of a
U.S. Protestant preacher's sermons. The employee told Emboff
that he was taking religious correspondence courses with a
U.S. institution; however the GSE employees at the post
office had refused to allow him to retrieve items from his
post office box. The LES member also expressed concern about
two of his friends who had been arrested recently and said
that one of them may have passed on information about him to
the Office of National Security.
2. (C) Comment: This report, sadly, represents yet another
case of continuing repression and harassment of Eritreans who
wish to practice different religions. End Comment.
MCINTYRE
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI KIRF ER
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION VICTIM STILL HARASSED BY GSE
Classified By: CDA Jennifer A. McIntyre, for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).
1. (C) An Embassy locally employed staff member (LES)
continues to be harassed by officials of the Government of
the State of Eritrea (GSE),following his July arrest on
religious grounds and release a month later. A member of the
unregistered Full Gospel Pentecostal Church, the GSE informed
the employee that his release was conditional upon his
signing a statement in which he agreed to recant his faith
and to choose a "customary" Eritrean religious faith (See
reftel). The employee reported to Emboff that on November
19, GSE officials (presumably agents from the Office of
National Security) came to his home and asked him why he
continued to attend church and proselytize after signing the
form that secured his release. The officials asked if he had
renounced his religion, to which he responded "no". The
officials then confiscated his bible and a video tape of a
U.S. Protestant preacher's sermons. The employee told Emboff
that he was taking religious correspondence courses with a
U.S. institution; however the GSE employees at the post
office had refused to allow him to retrieve items from his
post office box. The LES member also expressed concern about
two of his friends who had been arrested recently and said
that one of them may have passed on information about him to
the Office of National Security.
2. (C) Comment: This report, sadly, represents yet another
case of continuing repression and harassment of Eritreans who
wish to practice different religions. End Comment.
MCINTYRE