afrol News, 11 December - The Eritrean authorities have arrested and detained 30 elderly Christian women during a prayer meeting. The women are reportedly held without charge by the district office of the federal security service.

According to local reports, most of the women who are members of a group started by the Methodist Church in Africa belonged to an outlawed evangelical group in the West African state.

The US Christian religious rights group have condemned the arrests and expressed concern for the women's safety.

International Christians Concern's Jonathan Racho said rights organisations are aware of the arrests made on Christian women. "They don't pose any security risk to the country," he said.

Mr Racho said the situations for Christians in Eritrea are actually horrible, especially when arrested and held by the police. "We have information that many times, Christians are killed while in prison,” he said.

According to a recent US State Department report, more than 3,000 Christians have been detained since the religious crackdown began in 2002. More than 90 percent of Eritreans belong to one of four recognised religions.

Since May 2002 only the Eritrese Orthodoxe Church, the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches are the few allowed as part of government efforts to crackdown on Christian activities.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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