Author: Ismail Moussa
28 July 2025
Tuesday 22 July 2025, marked yet another dark chapter in Eritrea’s long record of human rights violations. Two respected Muslim figures, Sheikh Adem Shaban and Sheikh Hasan Shenetti, were summoned by government authorities in Ghinda and have not been heard from since. Their disappearance is not an isolated incident—it is part of a decades-long pattern of state-sponsored intimidation, abduction, and suppression that has targeted the Muslim population in Eritrea.
Since the early days of independence in 1991, enforced disappearances have become a hallmark of Eritrea’s governance. The early 1990s saw a wave of unexplained arrests and vanishing of scholars, community leaders, imams, students, and businesspeople—especially among the Muslim population. The years 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and nearly every year since have recorded incidents where individuals were taken and never seen again. Families were left without answers, without graves to mourn over, without justice.
This campaign of repression is not accidental—it is structural and systematic. Its goal is clear: to disempower the Muslim population, sever their leadership, and weaken their collective identity. This is done through multiple coordinated strategies:
- Enforced disappearances of key religious and social figures.
- Closure of institutions that serve the community, such as schools and charities.
- Targeting of cultural and religious practices, including the forced removal of hijabs from young girls, a direct violation of religious freedom and bodily autonomy.
- Destruction of both cultural and religious heritage, aiming to erase ways of life that have defined generations.
- A continuous policy of marginalisation, where Muslims are systematically excluded from positions of influence, representation, and power.
This doesn’t mean that other communities in Eritrea have not been affected. On the contrary, the Eritrean state has consistently repressed any form of dissent, across ethnic and religious lines. But it is crucial that we shine a light on the violations as they occur—and at this moment, we must speak about the targeted repression of the Muslim population.
One tragic example that still echoes in the hearts of many was the death of Sheikh Hajj Mussa in 2018. He died in prison after being arrested in 2017 for peacefully opposing the regime’s closure of the Al-Diaa Islamic School in Asmara. His death, like many before him, occurred in silence—no trial, no legal process, no accountability.
The pattern of repression has also included the closure of key Islamic educational institutions that once served as community hubs and intellectual centers. Among those forcibly shut down by the Eritrean government are the Agordat Islamic Institute, the Ashab Alyameen Islamic Institute in Keren, the Anseba Islamic Institute in Keren, and the Ginda Islamic Institute. These closures were part of a broader strategy to cut off religious education and dismantle the infrastructure that upholds Islamic cultural life.
The 1990s were especially brutal. Among the many religious figures disappeared were Qadi Maranat and Sheikh Shedali, both of whom were known for their scholarship and leadership. In 1997, in what remains one of the most horrifying chapters of this campaign, an estimated 150 sheikhs were executed by the regime in a mass killing that has still not been officially acknowledged or investigated.
Despite all this, the Muslim population of Eritrea has shown extraordinary patience, restraint, and resilience. This is a population that contributed heavily to the independence struggle, side by side with their Christian brothers and sisters, hoping for a country that would honour dignity, justice, and freedom. Instead, they have been met with betrayal and erasure.
These events are not merely allegations. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (2016) found “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity—including imprisonment, enforced disappearance, persecution, and torture—have been committed since 1991” as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population. These conclusions were drawn from extensive documentation and testimony, much of it from former detainees and family members of the disappeared.
More recently, the UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea, Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, has echoed these concerns in his reports. His findings in 2024 and 2025 describe ongoing patterns of arbitrary detention, religious persecution, and denial of due process, noting that Eritrea remains one of the most repressive states in the world. The Human Rights Council’s June 2025 resolution to renew the Special Rapporteur’s mandate—despite strong opposition from the Eritrean government—underscores the international community’s growing alarm over these enduring abuses.
It is time for a new era of solidarity—across faiths, ethnicities, regions, and generations. Eritrea’s future depends on all its people coming together to resist authoritarianism in all its forms. This includes standing firmly against the violations being carried out today in places like Ghinda, and remembering those who are no longer with us.
We call for a revolutionary step—a collective movement toward rights, dignity, and justice for all Eritreans. The silence must break. The fear must end.
What Can We Do? Mobilizing in the Diaspora
If you are part of the Eritrean diaspora, especially in Europe, North America, the Middle East, or East Africa, you have a role to play. Here are immediate steps for mass mobilisation:
- Raise Awareness
- Organise webinars, and teach-ins about the disappearances and ongoing violations.
- Share verified stories and names—keep the memories of the disappeared alive.
- Form or Join Advocacy Groups
- Coordinate with human rights organisations, faith-based institutions, and diaspora movements to push for international pressure.
- Document and Archive
- Collect testimonies, documents, and records for future accountability efforts.
- Support platforms that are documenting Eritrea’s human rights record.
- Solidarity Campaigns
- Launch interfaith and inter-community solidarity actions to show unity across Eritrean populations.
- Engage with Media and Policy Makers
- Write op-eds, contact your elected officials, and demand that they speak out and act.
- Submit reports to UN bodies, African Union human rights mechanisms, and international NGOs.
- Mobilise Youth
- Engage second-generation diaspora youth through arts, music, social media, and education to keep the struggle alive.
- Build Political Power
- Support alternative, people-centered Eritrean movements that are democratic, inclusive, and representative of all populations.
This is not just about two sheikhs. It is about the soul of a nation. No people should be punished for their faith, erased from their culture, or silenced for demanding dignity. The time to rise is now.
To echo the tagline of the Alternative Eritrea: “The alternative to freedom is freedom.” Let us move towards it—together.