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Note: The following text (minus the photos) is a quote:

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06110012.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com

Friday, November 3, 2006

Eritrean Gospel Singer Helen Berhane Released From Prison

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

ERITREA (ANS) -- Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a Christian human rights group in the UK, says that it has learnt that Helen Berhane, the Eritrean gospel singer jailed since May 2004, has been released from prison this week.

A CSW spokesperson said that, according to reports from Release Eritrea, Ms Berhane is at home with her family in Asmara.
Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of Release Eritrea, said in a statement that he was “extremely relieved” and urged the authorities to extend the same decision to the remaining prisoners of conscience.

Helen Berhane

“31-year-old Helen Berhane is a member of the Rhema Pentecostal

Church. She was incarcerated soon after releasing an album of gospel music popular among young Eritrean Christians,” said the CSW spokesperson. “Helen is reported to have been held for extensive periods of time in shipping containers and in underground cells at the Mai-Serwa military camp. She has repeatedly refused to sign a paper recanting her faith and promising not to participate in church-related activities.

“Last month, Ms Berhane was admitted to hospital, with signs of having suffered physical mistreatment.”

CSW Advocacy Director, Alexa Papadouris said: “We are delighted to learn of Helen Berhane’s release. She has been incarcerated without charge or trial for the last two years and appears to have suffered the most appalling mistreatment simply because of her faith, despite the provisions for freedom of worship contained within the Eritrean Constitution. We call on the Eritrean Government to release all other prisoners of conscience and to refrain from further harassment of Eritrean citizens who simply wish to worship in peace according to their faith.”

For more information please contact Alexa Papadouris, Advocacy Director for at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on + 44 (0) 20 8329 0035, email alexa@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk

CSW is a human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. On 22 May 2002, the Eritrean government ordered the closure of all churches not belonging to the Orthodox, Roman Catholic or Lutheran denominations, and an end to all other religious practices except Islam. The move came in the wake of increasing harassment of evangelical and Pentecostal denominations in particular, which the government equated with Islamists and vilified as non-indigenous, unpatriotic agents of foreign interests, who were seeking to undermine public morality and destabilize the country.

2. Some 2000 Christians are currently detained, for the most part without charge, in Eritrea. Amongst them is the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Abune Antonius, who has been illegally removed from office and placed under house arrest for objecting to government interference in church affairs.

Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.