The Decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights on Merits Communication 716/19 Three Jehovah's Witnesses (Represented by Lawyers Associated for Human Rights in Africa) v. the State of Eritrea Summary of the Complaint 1. The Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Secretariat) received a Complaint on 7 January 2019 from Lawyers Associated for Human Rights in Africa (the Complainant) on behalf of Paulos Eyassu, Issac Mogos and Negcde Teklemariam (the Victims). The Complaint is submitted against the State of Eritrea (hereinafter the "Respondent State" or "Eritrea) which is a State Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Charter). 1 The Complaint was initiated by the family members of the Victims, who reside outside of Eritrea and have appointed the Complainant to act as their legal representative.! 2. The Complainant submits that the Victims were seized by military personnel on 17 September 1994 and have since been detained incommunicado. Family members of the Victims have only been able to gain limited access to the Victims through unofficial channels and with the help of prison officials acting on their own volition. The Victims were detained at the Sawa Military Camp from the time of their arrest until November 2017, when they were transferred to Mai Serwa Prison. The Complainant submits that the Victims have not been charged with any criminal offense and that their detention is predicated on their conscientious objection to Eritrea's mandatory military service. 3. The Complainant submits that the Victims have been subjected to cruel, inhumane,and degrading treatment, and in this regard, notes conditions of detention "without adequate food or water ... beatings ... torture">, The Complainant also alleges instances in which Jehovah's Witnesses were segregated from other detainees and imprisoned in Shipping containers. The Complainant further alleges acts of humiliation and psychological torture in which the Victims were stripped in public and subjected to mock burials, where they were on several occasions instructed t~i their graves. The Complainant submits that the health and wellbeing of the Victims ". The State of Eritrea ratified the Charter on 14 January 1999. 2 Doc 1 - 10, Proof of Legal Representation. 1 Doc 20, para 23; Doc 21, paras. 8, 14. I i/ ~ ~ (oJ ~ ./ 2 \. so; ( AU' ~"I'I(II. ~},fffl 0",;_, "J 1",5/ e>i) h .w' "'....'<j.7 •