Published on: 9 November 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY
In 2002, the Eritrean government shut down and banned all religious groups except the Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches, as well as Sunni Islam. As a result of the government’s action, banned churches were forced to go underground. Eritrean officials then responded by undertaking a campaign to locate the underground churches and arrested their leaders.
Haile Naigzhe, chair of the Full Gospel Church of Eritrea, was one of many arrested in the hopes of destroying the Suffering Church. Tragically, Haile disappeared into the Eritrean prison system. He has never been charged with a crime, never been granted access to a lawyer, and never been given a trial date.
It is believed that Pastor Haile is being held in a maximum-security prison, the Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Center, along with 21 other Christian leaders. Persecuted believers who have been released from custody state that prison conditions are severe and that some persecuted believers are being held in windowless underground cells or metal shipping containers.
Due to safety concerns, Pastor Haile’s wife and four children live outside of Eritrea. They have never been allowed contact with their husband/father. In 2019 it was reported that Pastor Haile was in good health.
**Latest update (November 2023): According to friends, Pastor Haile is presently out of the hospital and his needs are being provided for by the local church and through the generous donations of Christians outside of Eritrea. His family asks that we pray for Pastor Haile’s health and safety as prison conditions are very bad.
Sanctioned religious groups, in spite of being recipients of the government’s “favor,” have also suffered persecution. One example was the detention of Abune Antonios, Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, who died in confinement in 2022 at the age of 94. Patriarch Antonios was one of the longest-serving prisoners of conscience in the Horn of Africa, spending sixteen years in solitary confinement for his resistance to government interference in the church.
TIMELINE
May 23, 2004: Arrested by police in Asmara and taken to Police Station #1. Eventually transferred to the Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Center with other Christian leaders. Disappeared.
October 2023: Currently detained indefinitely without charges. No known trial date is pending.
PRAYER NEEDS
After 19 years in detainment, pray that Pastor Haile be released from prison. Pray that the Lord finds a way to not only set him free, but also finds a way to reunite him with his wife and children who have grown up without the support of their beloved husband and father.
Ask the Lord to encourage Haile’s heart with the verse from Romans 8:28 that states, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
Pray that Pastor Haile’s faith grow ever stronger so that in every cell block he enters, he will leave behind him men who now know Christ because of his courageous testimony.
And finally, pray that Pastor Haile can honestly count these last 19 years “worthy of every torture, beating, starvation, suffering and the separation from loved ones in order to be a pastor to the thousands of prisoners his path has crossed.” (quote from Pastor Haralan Popov in Tortured for His Faith)
TAKE ACTION – Write a letter
You can write directly to the persecuted believer at the below address: (view Sample Letters here)
Prisoner, Haile Naigzhe
Wengel Mermera Prison
Asmara, Eritrea
Be sure to sign your letter with your first name only. (Please read our Prayer & Action Useful Tips to familiarize yourself with important safety measures when corresponding with persecuted Christians in foreign countries.
Address the envelope as follows:
TAKE ACTION – Advocate on behalf of the prisoner
We have a strong advocate in the US Commission on International Religious Freedom in Washington D.C. Write to the USCIRF today and encourage their diplomatic efforts on behalf of Eritrean Pastor Haile Naigzhe and others like him who have been imprisoned in Eritrea for the sake of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Send your letter to: (view Sample Letters here)
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom
Att: Chair Rabbi Abraham Cooper
732 N. Capitol Street, N.W., Suite A714,
Washington, D.C. 20401
