How I Escaped Africa’s Most Repressive State

In his native Eritrea, Dr. Berhane Asmelash was a military doctor who treated soldiers on both sides of the brutal war with Ethiopia that spanned much of the last two decades. Despite his service, he was arrested and tortured for nearly a year for the crime of leading a Christian congregation in a country without freedom of religion or expression. He witnessed his fellow prisoners taken away for extrajudicial killings. After seeking asylum in the UK, he is now a Church of England vicar and works to help Christians still being persecuted by the brutal regime, watching on as the situation becomes more and more dire in the wake of the Tigray War. Correction : June 23, 2021 An earlier version of this video showed footage of the Eritrean-Ethiopian War (1998-2000) when referencing the present Tigray War. Watch more from VICE News: Drugs Are Poisoning Tulum’s Waters    • Drugs Are Poisoning the Water in This Mexi...   All the Ways Republicans Are Trying to Make Protesting a Crime    • All the Ways Republicans Are Trying to Mak...   The Consequences of Recording Police Killings    • The Consequences of Recording Police Killings   Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Check out VICE News for more: http://vicenews.com Follow VICE News here: Facebook:   / vicenews   Twitter:   / vicenews   Tumblr:   / vicenews   Instagram:   / vicenews   More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo #VICENews #News