Fikremariam Hagos Tsalim

Fikremariam Hagos Tsalim (born 23 October 1970) is an Ethiopian-born Eritrean Catholic hierarch who has served as bishop of the Eparchy of Segheneity since 2012. He was imprisoned without trial from 15 October 2022, until his release after 75 days.

Early life and education Fikremariam Hagos Tsalim was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 23 October 1970 to Hagos Tsalim and Birikti Abebe Woldemichael. He was baptized on 21 November by Cardinal Paulos Tzadua. He studied philosophy at the Major Seminary of Adigrat and theology at the Asmara Theological Institute.

Career Tsalim was ordained a priest on 21 July 1996 He received his episcopal consecration on 27 May from Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam of the Eparchy of Asmara.

In May 2014, he and the other Eritrean bishops called on the government to improve economic conditions that were producing mass emigration and to develop economic and judicial systems that respect human dignity. In 2017, he went on his second fundraising tour of the United States to encourage the Eritrean diaspora to maintain contact with their country of origin, its culture and church.

On 19 January 2015, Pope Francis established the Eritrean Catholic Church as a new Metropolitan church sui iuris, separating it from the Ethiopian Catholic Church. Consequently, Tsalim and the Eparchy of Segheneity were transferred from the jurisdiction of the Ethiopian Metropolitanate to the newly formed Eritrean jurisdiction under the Archeparchy of Asmara.

In October 2018, he represented the Eritrean Church at the Synod of Bishops on Young People.

Tsalim joined the other Catholic bishops of Eritrea in a letter calling for greater human rights and religious freedom. Tsalim also criticized the government's military engagement in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, which forces young men into military service. On 4 September 2019, he and the Eritrean bishops wrote to the Minister of Public Education to protest the government's takeover of Catholic schools: "If this is not hatred against the faith and religion, what else can it be? By removing children and young people from structures capable of forming them to the supreme values of the fear of God and the moral law, what kind of new generation are we preparing for the future of this country?"

In July 2022, he was named a member of the council of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa.

On 15 October 2022, Tsalim and two other priests were arrested at Asmara International Airport as he was returning from Europe. Tsalim was held at Adi Abeto prison outside of Asmara and the government released no information about legal proceedings or their status, other than confirming that Tsalim was in custody. and were welcomed in Asmara cathedral by religious men and women and Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam of Asmara.