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Eritrea
Since May 2002, the Eritrean government has banned all independent religious groups not under the umbrella of the Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran or Muslim faiths. All independent Protestant churches have been denied legal registration and outlawed.
Everyone caught worshipping outside these government-sanctioned institutions – even in small handfuls in private homes – is arrested, tortured and/or subjected to severe pressures to deny their religious beliefs.
Even leaders of the four historically recognised groups are experiencing harsh government restrictions. Ignoring church canons, local lay authorities removed the ordained patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church from his ecclesiastical position in August 2005. Patriarch Abune Antonios has been held under house arrest ever since.
Recently confirmed statistics indicate that at least 1,918 Eritrean citizens are jailed solely for their religious beliefs, without any access to judicial process.