A/HRC/4/21/Add.1 page 33 Eritrea Urgent appeal sent on 7 December 2005 jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture 129. The Special Rapporteurs brought to the attention of the Government information they had received regarding Helen Berhane, aged 30, a prominent Christian singer. According to the allegations, on 13 May 2004, she was arrested during an operation led by the Ministry of Defence. She is allegedly being detained in a shipping container at the Mai Serwa military base, north of Asmara. The reasons for her detention are thought to be linked to her activities as a prominent Christian singer. She is being held incommunicado and has not been brought before a judge, despite the fact that the Eritrean Constitution requires that detainees be brought before a judge within 48 hours of being arrested. According to the information received, the Ministry of Defence has been placing pressure on her to sign a statement renouncing her faith and promising to cease her participation in any Christian activities in Eritrea. Observations 130. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that she has not received a reply from the Government concerning the above mentioned allegation. She would like to take the opportunity to remind the Government of article 18(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that “[n]o one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.” Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur would like to refer to her framework for communications, more specifically to the international human rights norms and to the mandate practice concerning “Freedom from coercion” (see above para. 1, category I. 2). In her 2005 report to the General Assembly (A/60/399, para. 50) she states that “[t]he fact that the prohibition of coercion was made explicit shows that the drafters of the Covenant found the freedom provided by paragraph 1 to be so significant that any form of coercion by the State was impermissible, independently of whether the coercion was physical or in the form of State-sponsored incentives. According to the Human Rights Committee: ‘Article 18.2 bars coercion that would impair the right to have or adopt a religion or belief, including the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers to adhere to their religious beliefs and congregations, to recant their religion or belief or to convert. Policies or practices having the same intention or effect, such as, for example, those restricting access to education, medical care, employment or the rights guaranteed by article 25 and other provisions of the Covenant, are similarly inconsistent with article 18.2’ (general comment No. 22, para. 5).” Urgent appeal sent on 8 November 2006 jointly with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture 131. The Special Rapporteurs and the Chairperson-Rapporteur received information concerning Immanuel Andegergesh and Kibrom Firemichael, ten other unidentified members of the Rema Church in Adi-Quala town, and one hundred and sixty unidentified members of banned Christian churches, including Kale Hiwot (Word of God) Church, the Full Gospel Church, the Church of the Living God and the Rema church in Mendefera town.