Eritrea has two dominant religions, Christianity and Islam, with approximately half of the population belonging to each faith. Most Muslims follow Sunni Islam. The Christians consist primarily of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, which is the local Oriental Orthodox church, while considerable groups of Roman Catholics (including Italian Eritreans), Protestants, and other denominations also exist.
Since May 2002, the Government of Eritrea has officially recognized the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, Sunni Islam, Catholicism, and the Evangelical Lutheran church. All other faiths and denominations are required to undergo a registration process.[50] Among other things, the Government's registration system requires religious groups to submit personal information on their membership to be allowed to worship.[50] The few organizations that have met all of the registration requirements have still not received official recognition.[citation needed]
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Bahá'í Faith, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and numerous other Protestant denominations are not registered and cannot worship freely. Three named men are known to have been imprisoned since 1994.[51] Additionally, on June 28, 2009 police raided a private home where Jehovah's Witnesses were meeting. Twenty-three were arrested including children as young as two years old. Some of the women and children were later released, however, two children who are now three and four years of age are still imprisoned with their mothers. None have been charged officially or given access to the judicial process. As of July 29, 2010, fifty-two Jehovah's Witnesses have been imprisoned in Eritrea for attending their religious meetings and engaging in religious activity.[52]
In its 2006 religious freedom report, the U.S. State Department named Eritrea a "Country of Particular Concern"(CPC) for the third year in a row
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