GLOBAL PRAYER NETWORK: Khartoum releases Christian minister, holds another ‘pending charges’

Jumat, 27 Mei 2016

Khartoum releases Christian minister, holds another ‘pending charges’

By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST News Service

KHARTOUM, SUDAN (ANS – May 25, 2016) -- After imposing nearly half a year in detention, Sudan has now released one Christian minister, while still keeping a second without legal access, pending possible charges of “undermining national security.”

According to World Watch Monitor (WWM), on Tuesday, May 19, 2016, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) released 36-year-old Telahoon (Telal) Nogosi Kassa Rata from Khartoum’s Kober prison, sources in Sudan have said.

NISS agents contacted Rata’s father, telling him to collect his son, who local sources confirmed was in “good health.”

WWM said that since his as-yet unexplained arrest on December, 13, 2015, the leader of Khartoum North (Bahri) Evangelical Church was allowed no access to his lawyer. His parents were allowed to visit only twice, on December 17, 2015, and March 26, 2016.

The Christian worker’s parents tried to visit him on many other occasions, but each time they were prevented from doing so.

Rata’s file is still with the Attorney General. It is unknown if he will face charges.

“Meanwhile Rev. Hassan Abduraheem Kodi Taour, the outgoing Secretary General of the Sudan Church of Christ (SCC), remains in detention and has been denied any access to his lawyer,” said WWM.

“But on May 15, 2016, Rev. Taour’s family was allowed to visit him for the first time since his arrest from his home on December 18th of last year.”

Sources, requesting anonymity, reported that Rev. Taour faces several serious charges related to “undermining national security,” charges Sudan has previously used after prolonged detentions of Christians.

Until now both Rata and Taour have endured unlawful detentions without charges and have been kept mostly incommunicado.

Restrictions

Rev. Taour appeared in court briefly on May 16, 2016, for the transfer of his case from the NISS to the prosecutor’s office.

The date of his next court appearance has not yet been announced.

According to Sudanese law, 45 days from arrest a detainee should either appear before court or be released, a rule which was not followed in either Rata’s or Taour’s case.

World Watch Monitor said that a number of other Christian leaders are still thought to be subject to restrictions.

The day after Rev. Taour was taken from his home in Omdurman, west of Khartoum, another SCC leader, Rev. Kuwa Shamal, was detained from his home north of the capital.

Shamal was released days later, but has been required to report daily to the NISS. The condition was briefly suspended in January, but was later reinstated. At times, the pastor was obliged to stay at the NISS offices for extended periods, heavily impacting his pastoral work.

Other Christian leaders, including Ayub Tilyab, Yagoub Naway (both SCC pastors), Rev. Philemon Hassan, and Rev. Yamani Abraha of Khartoum El Izba Baptist Church, have been alternately arrested, released, and then made subject to daily NISS reporting, World Watch Monitor has learnt.

It is not the first time Khartoum has detained Christians unlawfully, before failing to prove serious charges later brought up against them in courts.

In August 2015, Khartoum released two South Sudanese pastors, whom it accused of “spying”. Yat Michael and Peter Yen were in prison for eight and seven months, respectively.

Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese Christian accused of being an apostate from Islam, was released in June 2014 after a global outcry.

Earlier in 2014, Ibrahim was sentenced to death for apostasy, and flogging for “adultery” (marriage to a South Sudanese Christian). During her six-month incarceration, she gave birth to her baby girl, while shackled to the floor. Her 20-month-old son, Martin, was held with her in prison.

“Since the secession of South Sudan [in July 2011], Khartoum has intensified harassment of Christians, including arrests of church leaders and active church members,” said Kamal Fahmi, who heads an advocacy website, ‘Set My People Free,’ which calls for the repeal of Islam’s blasphemy and apostasy laws.

“Foreign Christian workers have been deported. Sudan has stopped the import of Christian literature and scriptures, while confiscating most of the Christian literature in the country and closing the only Christian bookshop in the capital, Khartoum.”

“Torture and arrest of converts from Islam is also commonplace,” Fahmi added.

According to the 2016 Open Doors' World Watch List, Sudan is ranked 8th in a list of 50 countries where Christians face persecution worldwide. The predominantly Muslim country has a rating of “extreme” and has remained among the top 10 offenders for the past two years.

For more information, please go to: https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org

Photo captions: Freed, Telahoon Rata (World Watch Monitor). 2) Hassan Taour. (World Watch Monitor) Meriam Ibrahim who was raised in a Christian family and married Daniel Wani, a Sudanese biochemist. 4) Dan Wooding.

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for nearly 53 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren, who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder and international director of the ASSIST News Service (ANS), and the author or co-author of some 45 books. He has one radio show and two TV programs all based in Southern California. Before moving to the US, Dan was a senior reporter with two of the UK’s largest circulation newspapers and also an interviewer for BBC Radio One in London.