An Ethiopian court has rejected an appeal by an Evangelical Christian sentenced to seven months in prison for ‘causing outrage to religious peace and feeling’. Local Evangelicals fear that the sentence will set a precedent and that from now on, anyone will be able to bring unfounded accusations against them with impunity.
An Ethiopian court has rejected an appeal by an Evangelical Christian sentenced to seven months in prison for ‘causing outrage to religious peace and feeling’.
Temesgen Mitiku Mezemir, 24, the leader of an Evangelical fellowship group, was found guilty of defaming the tabot, a representation of the Ark of the Covenant which is sacred to Christians from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC).
In May he was released on bail and allowed to appeal, but the appeal court judges upheld the sentence by the lower court and now Mezemir has been returned to prison in the southern city of Arba Minch.
Mezemir was charged on 23 January after suggesting that some members of the EOC should compare Orthodox accounts of the tabot with information from the Internet. He showed them a picture of the tabot which he had downloaded.
Even though there is no law against possessing or sharing such photos, Mezemir was later found guilty of defaming the tabot.
Local Evangelicals expressed concern over such blatant legal irregularity. But more than that, they fear that the sentence will set a precedent and that from now on, anyone will be able to bring unfounded accusations against them with impunity.
Christians in the Horn of Africa face persecution, isolation and hardship for following Jesus. Your prayers and gift today will help Open Doors to support the most isolated and vulnerable believers.
What makes the case even worse, of course, is that the charges were brought against Mezemir by members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC). Some Ethiopians see belonging to the EOC as as part of their national identity. Just under half of Ethiopia’s population belong to the church, and its leaders play a prominent role in state and religious affairs.
Relations between the EOC and strained, partly because the Evangelical churches are growing. In Arba Minch the proportion of people identifying themselves as Protestant grew from 35 per cent in 1994, to 55 per cent in 2007. At the same time the proportion of Orthodox Christians fell from 27 per cent to 20 per cent.
Ethiopia is number 29 on the 2018 World Watch List, Open Doors’ annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. Christians face persecution from many different sources in Ethiopia; in Muslim-majority areas, converts from Islam are denied family rights and access to communal resources. The government, suspicious about religion in general, continues to restrict religious freedom: religious broadcasting services and religious activities in schools are banned.
But your support and prayers are helping our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia to keep going. Open Doors has been active in Ethiopia since the late 1980s, working through local partners and churches to equip Christians for ministry, as well as helping Christians to deal with the emotional and physical results of persecution. This includes emergency relief, livelihood support and training.
Your support helps persecuted Christians continue to courageously follow Jesus.
Together, we can reach those where persecution hits hardest.