As reported by RNS on 24 July 2018, human rights advocates are cheering the
release of 35 Christian prisoners by the Eritrean authorities. This is seen as a direct consequence of the new peace pact between Eritrea and Ethiopia signed on 9 July 2018. According to BBC Tigrinya Service cited by Africa News on 20 July 2018: "All prisoners (11 women and 24 men) were released
on bail from Mai-Sirwa Prison. This group of prisoners had filled out forms agreeing to not participate in meetings conducted by their respective churches four and half years ago, however unlike their fellow believers who had done that to secure release previously they were never granted a release until yesterday."
Yonas Demebele, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, is glad that the Christians have been released but adds a word of caution: "It should be noted that those released were not church leaders and were freed "˜on unclear bail terms". Over the last decade it has sometimes been possible for Christians to secure release if they pledged not to participate in activities run by unregistered Christian groups. It should be remembered that hundreds of Christians remain imprisoned in harsh conditions and without concrete charges in Eritrea because they are unwilling to make such a pledge, seeing it as a denial of their faith. We will only see real change in Eritrea emerging when hundreds of Christians are released unconditionally from prison and the church registration laws of May 2002 are revised to include non-traditional Christian communities as legal entities. More importantly, without a release of church leaders who have been languishing in prison for over a decade, it is difficult to see here any change of attitude in the Eritrean government. It is just window dressing."
