arbitrary detention – FoRB in Full

‘The Yunnan Model’ could be an indicator that life is going to get even harder for religious and ethnic groups across China

Posted on 10/05/2023 by cswpress in Asia, China

Wang Shunping, Nu Sangdeng, San Luobo, Hua Xiuxia and Dong Mengru spent the past nine months in detention.

Their crime? Holding a handful of Christian gatherings and teaching guitar and hymns to a group of young people in their rented home in Fugong County in the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of China’s Yunnan Province.

Though they were released on bail on 7 May, the charges against them relating to ‘organising and sponsoring an illegal gathering’ are yet to be dismissed.

All five individuals – three men and two women – work among the ethnic Nu community, one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognised by the Chinese authorities; the three men are Nu ethnic preachers. In China, the majority of the Nu live in Yunnan, where a significant history of Western missionary activity has resulted in a large Protestant Christian population alongside the majority religions of Buddhism and tribal animism.

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The international community must assist in transforming Eritrea’s pathocracy into a genuine democracy

Posted on 27/04/2023 by cswpress in Eritrea, Sub-Saharan Africa

27 April 1993: Eritrea declares official independence from Ethiopia after a referendum which saw a 98.5% turnout with a 99.83% vote in favour.

The vote took place nearly two years after the defeat of Ethiopian forces in Eritrea in May 1991, which brought with it an end to nearly three decades of civil war. The referendum installed the leader of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF, which later became PFDJ – People’s Front for Democracy and Justice) Isaias Afewerki as president, and it was hoped that he would lead the Eritrean people into a just and democratic future – then-US President Bill Clinton even referred to him as a ‘renaissance African leader’.

Sadly, this did not occur. Afewerki remains the only ruler Eritrea has ever known, and under his leadership the nation’s heroic liberation struggle has been resolutely betrayed due to his obsession with absolute power.

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Silenced for defending the oppressed – standing up for Vietnam’s prisoners of conscience

Posted on 05/04/2023 by cswpress in Asia, Vietnam

The Communist Party of Vietnam routinely violates the civil and political rights of its people. The right to freedom of expression, opinion and speech is tightly restricted and suppressed, with little or no space for the voice of civil society. The Vietnamese government regularly imprisons individuals for human rights work including exposing corruption, offering legal assistance, organising peaceful protests, and using social media to advocate on social issues and speak out against social injustices.

Many human rights defenders risk their own safety to stand up for victims of human rights violations, including the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). Those who speak out frequently face harassment, intimidation, intrusive monitoring and even imprisonment by the Vietnamese government.

Six such activists are Nguyen Van Dai, Le Thu Ha, Nguyen Trung Ton, Nguyen Bac Truyen, Pham Van Troi and Truong Minh Duc. On 5 April 2018, they stood trial under accusations of ‘carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the government’, receiving prison sentences of between seven and 15 years.

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The international community must support the bravery of the Cuban people

Posted on 21/02/202321/02/2023 by cswpress in Cuba, Latin America

‘I don’t think that any man can get used to this place, and even more so when one knows that one is here unjustly.’
– Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo

Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo has been a prisoner of the Cuban government for over 18 months. He was arrested, among many others, on 11 July 2021 in the midst of unprecedented nationwide protests in Cuba, and he is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence on completely fabricated charges of ‘disrespect’, ‘assault’, ‘criminal incitement’ and ‘public disorder’.

He is one of many political prisoners on the island, his continuing detention just one reminder of the Cuban authorities’ relentless hostility towards religious groups it views with suspicion and fear.

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Let us honour the memory of Patriarch Antonios by bringing an end to the violations of the Eritrean regime

Posted on 09/02/202313/02/2023 by cswpress in Eritrea, Sub-Saharan Africa

Abune (Father) Antonios, the legitimate patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, died a year ago today. He was 94 years old, and had spent the last 16 years of his life under house arrest following his repeated objections to unwarranted government interference in church affairs.

In April 2004, the patriarch was appointed with the unanimous endorsement of the Holy Synod of the Church to lead one of only four recognised religious denominations in Eritrea (the others being Catholicism, Evangelical Lutheranism, and Sunni Islam). As a leader of one of the few religious communities not directly outlawed by the Eritrean authorities, one might have expected that he would not face the harassment and pressures the Eritrean regime excels in dispensing.

However, this was not the case. By August 2005 he had been removed by the government from administrative control of the patriarchate, and confined to ceremonial duties. Then in January 2006 he was removed from office in violation of canon law, his advisor Merigeta Yitbarek Berhe was detained, and he was held under de facto house arrest at his official residence. Eventually, in 2007 the patriarch’s personal pontifical insignia and clothing were seized, and he was formally placed under incommunicado house arrest in an undisclosed location in the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

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