Helen Berhane (born c. 1974) is an Eritrean

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Gospel singer who was a prisoner in

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

Life

Berhane is a member of the Rema church, one of several minority

Evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

churches not officially recognized by the state of Eritrea and heavily

persecuted Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms ...

. She was arrested on 13 May 2004, shortly after she released an album of Christian music,"Eritrean gospel singer 'released'"
BBC News, 4 November 2006. after refusing to sign a document pledging to end all participation in Evangelical activities, which included her music. She was detained at Mai Serwa military camp, north of the capital

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

. She had no possibility of contact with her family and was denied legal representation or medical care. On Eritrean Independence Day, 24 May 2006,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

renewed their appeal to Eritrea's president

Isaias Afewerki Isaias Afwerki ( ti, ኢሳይያስ ኣፍወርቂ, ; born 2 February 1946) is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the president of Eritrea since shortly after he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in ...

to ensure the improvement of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

standards in the country. Five of the six female prisoners Amnesty International appealed for the release of last year on this date, including Berhane, were still held at the time. They had not been charged with anything nor brought to any court. Berhane's 2003 album, ''T' Kebaeku'' (I Am Anointed), was re-released in Europe in June 2006.

Release

On 2 November 2006 it was reported that Berhane was released from prison in late October 2006, suffering heavy illnesses. She and her daughter Eva were granted asylum in

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after fleeing separately to the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

ese capital of Khartoum for refuge.

UK visa refusal

In 2010, Berhane was refused an entry visa to the UK, even though she had been invited to speak of her experiences of persecution in Eritrea at a series of meetings in Great Britain. An

early day motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a Motion (parliamentary procedure), motion, expressed as a single sentence, Table (parliamentary procedure), tabled by Member of Parliament, members of Parliament that formally ...

expressing regret about this decision was supported by 41 out of 41 MPs, none chose to withdraw from voting.

Book

Berhane has written of her experiences in the following book: * ''Song of the Nightingale'', AUTHENTIC PUBLISHING (1 September 2009),

References

External links

Amnesty International report on Berhane's caseBBC Article on Helen Berhane's release in 2006Information on religious persecution in Eritrea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berhane, Helen Living people Eritrean Protestants 21st-century Eritrean women singers 1975 births Prisoners and detainees of Eritrea Eritrean prisoners and detainees