a group of eritrean refugees told how they were forced to deny their faith or face death at the hands of islamist gunmen who patrol the towns and beaches of the north african state searching for ` infidels ' .
haben , 19 , told mailonline : ` we are christians but we had to deny our faith otherwise the gunmen would kill us , slit our throats and cut off our heads .
he and his brother samuel , 14 , arrived in sicily a week ago , just days before around 900 people died when their boat capsized disasters since the end of world war two .