Reverend Ghirmay Araya, a founding member of the Full Gospel Church in Eritrea, passed away earlier this month after two and a half years in prison.
Rev Girmay was arrested in 2021 and held in a maximum security prison. He was apparently suffering from diabetes and other conditions often linked to long-term imprisonment and torture.
He leaves behind a wife and five children.
On May 24, Eritrea celebrated its Independence Day. It became an independent country in 1993 and President Isayas Afewerki has governed Eritrea since then. This month marks 22 years since the government closed all churches outside of the Eritrean Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Lutheran churches who had not obeyed a 1997 order to apply for registration.
To this day, an unknown number of Christians who belong to closed churches remain in prison. Christians in Eritrea have no right to gather for worship, publish Christian books and magazines, produce Christian music or distribute Bibles and Christian tracts. They are not allowed to share their Christian faith with any other Eritrean at work, school or military camps. Doing this may land them in prison.
Believers in Eritrea continue to be arrested and detained frequently. Sometimes they are released, but many remain in prison for years. Details such as names remain scarce.
Join us in praying for Rev Ghirmay’s family and all those who remain imprisoned for their faith.