The small African nation of Eritrea doesn’t get the attention other heavy persecutors of Christians receive, but it’s been described as one of the worst in the world currently, with hundreds of Christians in prison indefinitely simply for their faith in Jesus Christ.
According to Todd Nettleton from Voice of the Martyrs, there are at least 600 Christians imprisoned in Eritrea. Even more shocking, not a single one of them has been formally charged with a crime nor given a trial or even a lawyer. They’ve “simply disappeared into the prison system.”
Nettleton joined Faithwire recently, and despite the high number of Christians in prison, shared a glimpse of good news. “We received news recently that two Christian prisoners have been released from prison, allowed to leave, allowed to go home,” he said. However, one of those newly released prisoners reportedly had to immediately go into hiding in order to avoid re-arrest.
According to Nettleton, there are Christians in Eritrean prisons who have been stuck in a cell for over 6,000 days, waiting for justice.
If you want to encourage prisoners trapped in Eritrea, go to PrisonerAlert.com. The site translates the letter that is then sent to those in prison. There’s no guarantee that the prisoners will receive it, but there are several other reasons why it’s still important to send a letter.
For starters, sometimes the guards read the mail and start asking questions and have conversations about the contents of the letter. Another side-effect is that when letters start coming in, officials begin to worry. They feel the weight of the world watching them, and fear reprisals if a valued prisoner were to die in their custody.
Aside from the letter of encouragement, be praying for all those trapped in this heavily persecuted country!