On the Continued Human Rights Violations by the Eritrean Regime
Date: 18 August 2025
The Eritrean regime has once again proven itself to be a terrorist government, a fascist machine, and an extremist force that operates with brutality, impunity, and disdain for the people it claims to govern. These are not labels of rhetorical flourish — they are accurate descriptions of a state that disappears its citizens, imprisons its elders, destroys its religious institutions, and criminalises human dignity.
This past week, the regime abducted two respected scholars — Sheikh Adem Shaban and Sheikh Hasan Shenetti — under the veil of state authority. These arrests are not isolated incidents. They are part of a systematic campaign of terror that has targeted the Muslim population of Eritrea since the early 1990s and continues to this day, aiming to dismantle our social fabric, erase cultural and religious life, and disempower entire generations.
This is the behaviour of a state that cannot be trusted with the fate of a nation. A government that disappears its own people, rejects constitutionalism, silences communities, and wages war on its own identity — is a government that must be confronted, dismantled, and replaced.
We, at Alternative Eritrea, stand in full solidarity with the Eritrean people who are rising in anger and resistance — inside the country and across the diaspora. We express unwavering support for all those who are mobilising, organising, and speaking out for freedom, justice, and dignity. We recognise that this moment requires not only mourning, but also movement.
We extend our hand to all Eritreans — Muslim and Christian, men and women, young and old — and call on you to rise as one people, to resist as one body, and to imagine as one nation. We urge the diaspora to break out of silos and fragmentation, and instead build coordination, collaboration, and common purpose. Now is not the time for silence or fear. Now is the time for action.
We Demand:
- The immediate and unconditional release of all those forcibly disappeared, including Sheikh Adem Shaban, Sheikh Hasan Shenetti, and thousands of others imprisoned for their beliefs, identity, or activism.
- Accountability for crimes against humanity, including enforced disappearances, torture, religious persecution, and cultural erasure.
- The full dismantling of the current regime — a terrorist, fascist, and extremist force that continues to hold our nation hostage.
- A national transition toward a people-led system of governance rooted in justice, dignity, pluralism, and democratic accountability.
- Unified action among Eritreans, both at home and in exile, to organise a revolutionary alternative for our future.
We will not allow this regime to define our history.
We will not let fear become our identity.
We will not be silent while our people are disappeared.
The alternative to tyranny is freedom.
The alternative to silence is resistance.
The alternative to this regime — is us.
Alternative Eritrea