{"id":5458,"date":"2016-01-06T06:32:07","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T06:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=5458"},"modified":"2016-01-06T06:32:07","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T06:32:07","slug":"eritrean-gospel-singer-helen-berhane-was-tortured-for-her-beliefs-now-shes-speaking-up-rosie-scammell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2016\/01\/06\/eritrean-gospel-singer-helen-berhane-was-tortured-for-her-beliefs-now-shes-speaking-up-rosie-scammell\/","title":{"rendered":"Eritrean gospel singer Helen Berhane was tortured for her beliefs. Now she\u2019s speaking up.  Rosie Scammell |"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"page-header\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"sharethis-wrapper clearfix\">\n<aside class=\"sharethis well well-xsmall\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"sharethis-block\">\n<div class=\"fb-like fb_iframe_widget\" data-action=\"\" data-send=\"false\" data-layout=\"button_count\" data-show-faces=\"false\" data-href=\"http:\/\/www.religionnews.com\/2015\/12\/29\/eritrean-gospel-singer-helen-berhane-tortured-beliefs-now-shes-speaking\/\">\n<div id=\"___plusone_0\"><span class=\"stMainServices st-email-counter\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"stArrow\"><span class=\"stButton_gradient stHBubble\"><span class=\"stBubble_hcount\">0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"p402_premium\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-165723\" src=\"http:\/\/ogpdn1wn2d93vut8u40tokx1dl7.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/thumbRNS-BERHANE-PROFILE122215.jpg\" alt=\"Gospel singer Helen Berhane has found a new life in Europe after fleeing imprisonment in Eritrea, where she was locked in a shipping container and tortured for her religious beliefs. Religion News Service photo by Rosie Scammell\" width=\"383\" height=\"286\" \/><\/p>\n<p>ROME (RNS) Gospel singer Helen Berhane found new life in Europe after fleeing Eritrea, where she was locked in a shipping container and tortured for her religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Berhane, who was released in 2006 after spending 32 months in custody, spoke recently at a Rome conference on Christian persecution in the hopes others might learn of the grievous human rights violations in her native land. The \u201cUnder Caesar\u2019s Sword\u201d conference was organized by the Center for Civil and Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame and the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University. The topic of Christian persecution has been highlighted numerous times by Pope Francis during his papacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only reason they let you go is when they torture you to death,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t want you to die in prison, it\u2019s not their responsibility, so they send you home to die.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Berhane, who was arrested for evangelizing and releasing religious music, was released only after she became deathly ill.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Her account is corroborated by Amnesty International.<\/p>\n<p>Fisseha M. Tekle, a researcher at the organization\u2019s East Africa office, described prison conditions as \u201cappalling\u201d and said detainees are subjected to torture and deprived of adequate food, water and sanitation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDetainees were held in overcrowded underground cells or metal shipping containers, often in desert locations, suffering extremes of heat and cold,\u201d Tekle said.<\/p>\n<p>Berhane was targeted because she was a member of a church banned by the Eritrean regime. The Eritrean government officially sanctions only four religions: the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea, the Eritrean Orthodox Church and Sunni Islam.<\/p>\n<p>The leaders of the latter two are appointed directly by the government, according to the U.S. government\u2019s 2014 International Religious Freedom Report.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Berhane belongs to the Rhema Church, sometimes spelled Rema, a Pentecostal\u00a0denomination that believes that the\u00a0miracles in the New Testament continue to happen today and that speaking in tongues is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>Before her arrest, Berhane said, she traveled and preached, attracting huge support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember when I was in Eritrea before the church closed. We had a huge revival, so they arrested the pastor and I,\u201d she said of her church, which had 4,000 members.<\/p>\n<p>In 2004, the government began to crack down, said Tekle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe majority of these pastors remain in arbitrary detention. None have been charged with a crime or brought before a court,\u201d Tekle\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p>While jailed, Berhane was pressured to reject her beliefs but refused: \u201cThey always ask you to deny your faith and to deny Jesus. I always refused. \u2026 I always mentioned that I am not ashamed of the gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She passed the time praying, reading and singing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, to sing is like when you go to war; it\u2019s a kind of energy,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m singing, sometimes I feel something release.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At winning her freedom, Berhane was unable to walk, had kidney problems and had no access to medicine. Security forces continued to harass her, and she decided to leave for neighboring Sudan, with the help of sympathetic immigration officers, she said.<\/p>\n<p>After Berhane\u2019s daughter, Eva, fled Eritrea and applied for asylum in Denmark, Berhane followed.<\/p>\n<p>They chose Denmark since it allowed them to move within a month. On arrival, Berhane received the medical care she needed.<\/p>\n<p>Berhane said the situation in Eritrea is getting worse and huge numbers of people continue to flee the country. While many are escaping from religious persecution, others are fleeing compulsory military conscription and poverty.<\/p>\n<p>According to the U.N. refugee agency, more than 250,000 Eritreans are currently living in neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan. Many travel farther afield, with Eritreans making up the fourth-largest group to reach Europe by sea this year, after Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis.<\/p>\n<p>Berhane said many young people are arrested in Sudan and sent back to Eritrea, where they are jailed, while others trying to escape are shot at the border by government authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Describing the \u201cterrible\u201d humanitarian situation, Berhane called for a multifaith campaign to help persecuted Eritreans:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou cannot do anything by yourself. We need many kinds of people. It doesn\u2019t matter what kind of religion they have or which doctrine; we must be united and pray for the voiceless.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a00 ROME (RNS) Gospel singer Helen Berhane found new life in Europe after fleeing Eritrea, where she was locked in a shipping container and tortured for her religious beliefs. Berhane, who was released in 2006 after spending 32 months in custody, spoke recently at a Rome conference on Christian persecution in the hopes others might [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Eritrean gospel singer Helen Berhane was tortured for her beliefs. 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