Eritreans in Israel call for trial of their leaders over crimes against humanity

About 2,000 Eritrean migrants demonstrated in central Israel on Tuesday in support of a UN human rights accusation of Eritrean leaders for crimes against humanity.

The protesters gathered outside the headquarters of the European Union’s delegation in Ramat Gan near the coastal city of Tel Aviv to show support for the report published on June 8.

According to the UN report, between 300,000 to 400,000 people have been in slavery in the country in the past 25 years.

The protesters carried signs showing the photographs of the country’s president, Isaias Afwerki and some shouting, demanding that he faces the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

U.N. human rights investigators had accused Eritrean leaders of crimes against humanity, including torture, rape, murder and enslaving hundreds of thousands of people.

#Israel #Haaretz broadcast by #EMET_NEWS_PRESS: Asylum seekers protest in Israel, demand EU try Eritrean leader… https://t.co/DWsC0FRIeF

— Richard Krauss (@emet_news_press) June 21, 2016

“Atrocities had been committed since the country’s independence in 1991 and were continuing,” the U.N. Commission of Inquiry said in the report that was immediately rejected by the government.

According to the UN agency, Eritrea’s poor treatment of its own people has motivated many thousands to flee the country.

Right groups said the country’s migrants risk persecution if they return home.

Reuters