Regime Arrests Muslim Leaders and Forces Women into Military Service amid Bloody Crackdown in Nakfa
Asmara – Zajel
Eritrean authorities have launched a wide-scale arrest campaign targeting prominent religious and social figures, most notably Sheikh Omar Yahya Haji, known as “Wad Haji,” and two of his aides, following his objection to the closure of a Qur’an memorization center in the city of Qenda’a. The arrests came just days after the detention of Sheikh Adam Shaban, one of the country’s most prominent Muslim scholars.
According to local sources, the arrests were followed by the forced conscription of girls and even married women, particularly in the city of Nakfa. These actions sparked public protests, which were met with a bloody security crackdown against citizens defending their families’ honor, plunging the city into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Since Eritrea’s independence in 1993 and the rise to power of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) under President Isaias Afwerki, the regime has pursued a one-party rule marked by total control over political, social, and religious life. Over the years, systematic measures have targeted Islamic institutions and figures, including the closure of schools and Qur’an memorization centers, the arrest of scholars and imams, and severe restrictions on religious and educational activities. The policy of open-ended compulsory military service has expanded to include young women – even married women – in what activists see as a direct assault on the Muslim community’s social fabric and a means to weaken its role in public life.
