Religious leaders in Eritrea say sects “subversive”

NAIROBI, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Religious leaders in Eritrea, which the United States has accused of harassing and arresting members of minority sects, expressed support for state-imposed curbs on religious activity and accused the sects of subversion.

The U.S. State Department said in a report in September that religious freedom had worsened over the past months in the Horn of Africa state, whose 3 million people are evenly split between Christians and Muslims.

The government passed a decree in May 2002 requiring all religious groups to register or cease operating.

Only the Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim and Lutheran groups have since been registered, forcing others like Jehovah’s Witnesses and pentecostal and evangelical groups to meet in secret.

The State Department report said there were numerous credible reports that more than 400 members of non-sanctioned religious groups had been detained or imprisoned, and in other cases tortured and forced to recant their faiths.

“The right to religious freedom, like other freedoms, is not absolute,” Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim and Lutheran leaders said in a statement on the Ministry of Information website on Sunday.

“We support religious freedom as long as it does not jeopardise the right of others to exercise the same right.

“We do not deny that there are fundamentalist movements both of Christian and Islamic orientation in the country. About their subversive activities against the religious institution of the country, it is our duty to speak out. Their aim is to destroy the existing religious institution, which they brand as “impure” and sow discord among families.

“If there are violations of religious freedom in Eritrea, it is by these alien and externally driven sects.”

No mention was made of the reported arrests and torture.

The Eritrean government has rejected the State Department report.