Showing posts with label Eritrea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eritrea. Show all posts

Monday, December 1, 2014

Tortured in the Sinai: 'I Was Hanged for Days'

Tortured in the Sinai: 'I Was Hanged for Days'


JERUSALEM, Israel -- From the West Coast of Africa to the deserts of Sinai, Bedouin tribes are conducting a human trafficking trade on a massive scale.

It's no secret. The trade reaps millions of dollars and deals with human misery. It could be stopped but so far no one has dared.

"By that time I had lost sense (sensation) in both my hands," an Eritrean torture victim told CBN News. "It was a result of the accumulated torture but mainly because (both) of my wrists were tied up so tightly, (and I was) hanged up from the ceiling for three days, the blood was cut off from my hands and the flesh started to literally drip from my hands."

Torture in the Sinai

This man is just one victim of this widespread modern-day slavery, kidnapping, and torture trade in the Sinai desert. There are many pictures and videos of this horrible practice on the Internet.

For this story, this Christian man from the African country of Eritrea is going by "Philip," but that's not his real name. CBN News covered his identity for his protection.

"In some cases, we were tortured simply because we were Christians," he told us, his chest trembling slightly as he spoke.

"Sinai was always a place for human smuggling, but since around two years ago -- even a bit more -- it started also to be a place of human torture," Shahar Shoham, director of Physicians for Human Rights, told CBN News.

Shorham has documented more than 1,300 cases of torture in the Sinai. Those survivors, like Philip, made it to Israel. But most of the cases of torture are not documented.

"They torture them in horrible methods, like hanging upside down from the ceiling, like using electric shocks, like burning them on their bodies," Shorham said.

Kidnapped for Ransom

This story begins in Eritrea, where many like Philip fled from its brutal dictatorship. He traveled to a United Nations refugee camp in Sudan. There he was kidnapped by a Bedouin tribe.

They transferred him -- along with many others -- through Sudan, Egypt, and all the way to the Sinai desert and their torture camps.

What happens next in these camps is diabolical.

"What they make you do is call your family and ask them for the money," Philip explained. "Usually they will do the asking. They will say, 'Either send this money or your brother will die or your father will die or your son will die.' It depends on whoever is picking up the phone."

"While you're talking to your family they would pour molten plastic on your body so that you would scream and perhaps they thought that would persuade your family to pay or collect the money faster," he said.

The tribesmen demand what for most poor Eritrean families is a king's ransom.

"The ransom fees can go up to $40,000 for an individual and even $50,000, and until the ransom fees (are) paid, the people will not be released," Shoham explained. The financial burden on the families is devastating."

Killing a Soul

Sister Azziza is a Catholic nun from Eritrea who is based in Jerusalem. She has interviewed many of the Sinai survivors.


"People are destroyed physically (and) psychologically because of what they know they did to their family, how they are living," Sister Azziza told CBN News.

But many do not make it out alive.

"We estimate that around 4,000 people died in the Sinai, some of them from torture," Shoham said. Many who were with Philip died.

"We couldn't help them; that was the most horrible thing," he recalled. "Some you know. You have experienced some of the harshest treatment in this world and yet they're dying and you couldn't do anything to help them. That was horrible."

Hanged Like Christ

Yet the torture and the dying go on.

CBN News talked with a 35-year-old Eritrean woman named Segen. She is five month's pregnant.

Meron Estefanos, an Eritrean human rights activist living in Sweden, arranged our conversation. The kidnappers give them cell phones so they can call their family and friends.

We talked via Skype, linking Sweden, Jerusalem, and the Sinai.

It was sobering. You could hear the strain in Segen's voice.

"They are asking for money every minute and they hit us and they put us -- they will make us lie down on the floor and you know their feet would be up and they would hit their feet and melt with melted plastic bags," Estefanos said.

"And so that way they cannot stand because they will torture their feet, and every day they hang them the way they hang Jesus Christ," she said.

"What does she mean when they hang them like Jesus Christ?" CBN News asked.

"They hang us the way He was hanged and they take off their clothes. While they are naked they will hang them. And they will just hit them with big bats like all day for hours," she said.

No Secret to the World

Many of the Etritreans, like Segen and Philip, are Christians. Many don't survive.

"There are around 7,000 that went through these torture camps and 4,000 that died. Those are huge numbers and I don't think that the world needs to keep quiet about that," Shoham said.

Philip miraculously survived and made it to Israel where he received life-saving medical treatment.

The location of these torture camps is no secret.

"Their location and whereabouts is known already by many high officials," human rights activist Majed El Shafie told CBN News.

"The only way out of this problem is for the international society or the international community to put pressure on the Egyptian government to release the victims, to stop these human traffickers," he said.

Shafie believes some of the American financial aid to Egypt could be used -- with conditions -- to help these victims.

"Every American listening to us right now -- not only Americans but anybody in the world -- can make a difference," he said.

"You can contact your congressman. You can contact your senator. You can show them that you care about these issues," he said. "If you send an email, or fax or make a telephone call, he can save a life."

Watch the video: Tortured in the Sinai

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Israeli Commandoes Raid Iranian Arms Ship - TWO VIDEOS

Missiles intended to be launched against Israel

VIDEO: Israeli Commandoes 

Raid Iranian Arms Ship

Wednesday, March 05, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff  
Israeli naval commandoes on Wednesday raided a cargo ship near Sudan, confiscating a cargo of dozens of advanced missiles that were making their way to Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The shipment of B–302 missiles, each with a range of up to 200 kilometers (124 miles), would have significantly increased Hamas’ ability to threaten Israel’s population centers.
The raid took place during the predawn hours in international waters between Sudan and Eritrea. Army officials said the ship’s captain tried to throw off the Israelis by first heading toward Iraq, before correcting his course.
There were no casualties on either side, and the ship’s crew of 17 was taken in for questioning, while the ship itself, the Klos C, was sailed back to Eilat where its cargo could be safely unloaded.
The shipment of missiles is believed to have originated in Syria, possibly part of a Syrian stockpile that Iran is trying to redistribute to other allies. The missiles were then flown to Iran, where they were loaded on the Klos C hidden in sacks of cement. From Iran, the cargo was to make its way by sea to the Port of Sudan, and then be smuggled into Gaza via the Sinai Peninsula.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon issued a statement shortly after news of the raid broke:
“It has once again become clear that Iran continues to be the greatest exporter of terror in the world, with the express purpose of destabilizing the Middle East. …The Iranian regime continues to deceive the world; while it shows its smiling face it continues to be the biggest threat to world peace. …This Iranian attempt to transfer weapons to the Gaza Strip is additional evidence that Gaza is a terrorist entity under Iranian auspices preparing to strike deep into Israel.”
A statement by army officials suggested coordination with foreign intelligence agencies, the most likely candidates being America and Egypt. The new regime in Cairo has made itself an enemy of Hamas, and would have wanted to prevent the missiles from reaching the terror group via Egyptian soil.
Watch footage of Israeli soldiers uncovering the missile shipment:
Watch a short video prepared by the IDF showing the origin of the missiles and the attempted method of smuggling them into Gaza:
Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY

Friday, December 6, 2013

Christianity Is ‘Most Persecuted Religion,’ British Parliament Told

CharismaNews

Christianity Is 

‘Most Persecuted Religion,’ 

British Parliament Told



Evangelical Church in Minya
Bishop-General Macarius, a Coptic Orthodox leader, walks around the burnt and damaged Evangelical Church in Minya governorate, about 152 miles south of Cairo. (Reuters/Louafi Larbi)
The plight of Christians around the world was discussed in a three-hour debate at the Houses of Parliament in London Tuesday.
Members of the House of Commons were told that the persecution of Christians is increasing, that one Christian is killed about every 11 minutes around the world, and that Christianity is the “most persecuted religion globally.”
A long list of countries in which life as a Christian is most difficult was discussed, including Syria, North Korea, Eritrea, Nigeria, Iraq and Egypt.
MP Jim Shannon said the persecution of Christians is “the biggest story in the world that has never been told.”
He said that although the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there are many countries in which these rights are not given.
Shannon alleged that 200 million Christians will be persecuted for their faith this year, while he said that 500 million live in “dangerous neighborhoods.”
He added that in Syria Christians are “caught between opposing sides in the conflict,” and mentioned the “specific targeting” of Christian-dominated locations, such as Sadad and Maaloula.
MP Sammy Wilson said that in Syria, “50,000 Christians have been cleared from the city of Homs,” while in Sudan 2 million Christians were killed by the regime over a 30-year period.
He added: “Within the last month, hundreds of people, from Nigeria to Eritrea to Kazakhstan to China, have been arrested and put in prison simply because of their faith, and when they go into prison they are denied due process. They are denied access to lawyers. They are sometimes even denied knowledge of the charges facing them. They can languish in prison for a long time and in horrible conditions. … This is not only happening in Muslim countries. From Morocco to Pakistan, Christians in Muslim countries are under threat, but it happens elsewhere too.”
The recent comments of Baroness Warsi at a lecture in Washington were echoed, including her assertion that “the parts of the world where Christianity first spread is now seeing large sections of the Christian community leaving, and those that are remaining feeling persecuted.”
MP Nigel Dodds said that the “persecution of Christians is not new,” but that it is “staggering” how many Christians are killed today.
In Iraq, he noted the words of Canon Andrew White, who had said that Christians are “frightened even to walk to church because they might come under attack. All the churches are targets. … We used to have 1.5 million Christians, now we have probably only 200,000 left. … There are more Iraqi Christians in Chicago than there are here.”
Sir Edward Leigh said the remaining number of Christians in Iraq was likely to be closer to 600,000, but that this was still a shocking figure and that “things have become much worse since the invasion.”
MP Rehman Chishti said: “I come from a Muslim background, and my father was an imam. … I know it is absolutely right and proper to have a debate on the subject.” He called the persecution  “completely and utterly unacceptable” and “a very sad state of affairs.”
He also quoted his “good friend” the former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali: “He told me that the persecution of Christians was taking place in more than 130 of the 190 countries in the world at the moment.”
During the debate, the oppression experienced by Christians in China and Malaysia were also highlighted and outlined. As the British Prime Minister is currently in China, MP David Rutley raised the issue of the sizable Christian community in China, and asked about the potential establishment of a deeper inter-faith dialogue to engage the Chinese authorities with Christian groups.
Meanwhile, a U.K.-based organization has claimed that the number of countries posing an extreme risk to the human rights of their populations has risen by 70 percent in the past five years.
Risk analysis company Maplecroft, which researched 197 countries for its annual Human Rights Risk Atlas 2014, says that since 2008 the number has risen steeply from 20 to 34, predominantly comprised of countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Syria tops the list, followed by Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.