Gender: Male
Current Location: Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Interrogation Center
Perpetrator: Eritrea
Religion or Belief: Christian – Protestant
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Date of Detainment: March/18/2005
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: Yes
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment
Reason for Persecution: Religious Activity Religious Belief Religious Figure & Religious Leadership Role Unregistered Religious Activity
Nature of Charges: Not Applicable
Kidane Weldou
Extra Bio Info:
Kidane Weldou is detained for his religious activity and leadership role.
In March 2005, authorities forcibly disappeared Weldou from the streets of Asmara, leaving his car abandoned. Weldou was the senior pastor at the Full Gospel Church, part of a network of banned evangelical churches. Authorities confined him in Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Interrogation Center.
Publicly Available Information:
- "Kidane Weldou" Church In Chains
- "Kidane Weldou" The Voice of the Martyrs
Sep 16, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2019
WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released a report on the Chinese government’s use of surveillance cameras, biometric technology and artificial intelligence to monitor and harass religious communities. Included in the report are how the government has installed thousands of cameras around mosques, temples, and churches in order to track who attends services; and Chinese companies have marketed facial recognition technology as has having the ability to identify and notify security forces about the presence of any Uighur Muslims or Tibetan Buddhists.
“We are deeply disturbed by the Chinese government’s misuse of technology to create a dystopian surveillance state, one that particularly targets religious communities,” said USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer. “We urge the U.S. government and American businesses to take steps to ensure that American technological advances are not being used by Chinese authorities to suppress religious freedom and related human rights.”
“China’s repression of religion is not new, but its ability to harness these technologies has expanded the scale and scope of the threat to religious freedom in the country,” added Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee.
In its 2019 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. government increase export restrictions on technologies that have enhanced the Chinese government’s capacity to monitor and harass religious and ethnic communities. USCIRF has welcomed the U.S. Senate’s passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which would require the Director of National Intelligence to report on the transfer or development of technology used by Chinese authorities to monitor and detain Uighur Muslims.
###
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or Kellie Boyle at [email protected] or +1-703-898-6554.
Sep 13, 2019
WASHINGTON, DC (September 13, 2019) -- In response to the U.S. State Department’s recent decision to publicly designate Russian officials Vladimir Petrovich Yermolayev and Stepan Vladimirovich Tkach, as well as their immediate families, as ineligible for entry into the United States for their involvement in the arrest and torture of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city of Surgut, USCIRF Chair Tony Perkins and Vice Chair Gayle Manchin issued the following statements:
“USCIRF welcomes the State Department’s first application of these sanctions to a religious freedom-related case,” said Perkins, referencing Section 7031(c) of its Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act. “It is fitting that this designation has been applied to the Russian Federation, which continues to brazenly violate international standards of religious freedom.”
“In recent years, Russia has not only accelerated its persecution of domestic religious minorities, but it has also exported its repression to neighboring territories like Ukrainian Crimea, where restrictive religious policies remain a bulwark of the occupation regime,” said Manchin.
Since 2017, USCIRF has recommended the designation of the Russian Federation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom and has called for visa bans against officials involved in gross violations of religious freedom in its recent 2019 Annual Report.
###
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or Kellie Boyle at [email protected] or +1-703-898-6554.