Displaying items by tag: Sudan

A parliamentary committee tasked with amending Sudan’s constitution to allow President Omar al-Bashir to run for another term said it would indefinitely postpone a meeting to draft these changes. The president, a former army officer who came to power after a military coup, is facing unprecedented opposition to his rule, with street protests involving hundreds of people almost daily since mid-December over food prices, cash shortages and his 30-year rule. 75-year-old Bashir blamed protests on foreign ‘agents’ and challenged his opponents to seek power through the ballot box. Elections are expected in 2020. Sudan’s authoritarian government is ruled as an Islamic state with limited rights for religious minorities, freedom of speech restrictions, press restraints and multiple church building demolitions. Human Rights Watch reported over 51 deaths in nationwide rallies being subdued by riot police.

Sudanese security agents raided a house in the city of Nyala, and arrested 13 people when they admitted to being Christians. Two believers were released, but ten converts from Islam and their pastor, Tajdeen Yousif, were detained. The pastor refused to deny Christ despite being beaten by the agents, and the ten were later released after reportedly being tortured into recanting their faith. Pastor Tajdeen, also a convert from Islam,was held for several more days before being released. All eleven have now gone into hiding for their safety. Under sharia law, Muslims who abandon their religion face severe punishment. Sudan’s constitution gives judicial discretion to courts in the application of sharia.

The Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) is challenging a government decision to impose an unelected leadership committee on the church. On 23 August the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments, which oversees religious affairs in Sudan, appointed an alternative executive committee led by Mr Angelo Alzaki. Before this, eight SCOC leaders had been arrested and charged with trespassing on church headquarters and refusing to hand over control of the church to him. They were later released on bail. The SCOC's leadership said that this action violates the procedures of the denomination. The situation mirrors the Sudan Evangelical Presbyterian Church, where a government-backed church committee that was not constituted in accordance with church procedures has sold church land to developers.

Health care for our brothers and sisters in South Kordofan, Sudan, faces a crisis. Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) reports that after hospitals were bombed and aid organisations chased from the country, only two doctors are treating 1.1 million people. Even if people weren’t being maimed in government bombings, medical aid would be desperately lacking for everyday needs such as delivering babies, treating malaria, and helping people injured in accidents. Last year, VOM delivered 44.5 tons of medicine to the South Kordofan region, and it is supporting the few medical workers still in the region by helping to build a clinic and providing badly needed mosquito nets for its patients. See also article 7 in this section.

Some 126 refugees drowned in the Mediterranean after Libyan people-smugglers stole their outboard motor, leaving them at the mercy of the waves and other attackers. The dinghy, which left from a beach in Libya on 16 June, was heading toward Italy when it was attacked. The waves soon engulfed the dinghy and it sank. It is believed there were 130 on board, of whom four (two Nigerians and two Sudanese) were rescued by passing fishermen. Most of the passengers were from Sudan. A spokesman for the UN migration agency said the incident was ‘tantamount to murder’. He added, ‘We believe the motor may even have been stolen by the smugglers who launched the dinghy in the first place, or a rival group. Many motors have been stolen in recent times as they are valuable to the smugglers.’

Recently, members of the Sudan Church of Christ gathered for worship in the Khartoum suburb of Soba al Aradi. Before the service began, a bulldozer rumbled toward the church and demolished it, the last church still standing in the area. In 2011, the Sudanese government demolished twelve churches in the same suburb, as part of its announced plan to destroy 27 churches. Sudan’s president, Umar al-Bashir, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes. Nevertheless, he continues his campaign to rid Sudan of Christians, demolishing church buildings around Khartoum and routinely bombing Christian villages in the Nuba Mountains to the south. Pray for pastors who are experiencing persecution and have had property confiscated, for Christians in various prisons throughout Sudan, and for Christian communities experiencing bombing campaigns in their schools and hospitals.

Yesterday Hassan Abduraheem and Abdulmonem Abdumawla received a presidential pardon and were set free! Along with Kuwa Shamal and Petr Jasek, they were arrested in December 2015 and charged with espionage, inciting strife between communities, and other offences. In January they were each sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for espionage, and one year's imprisonment for inciting strife between communities and spreading rumours undermining the authority of the state. Since then they have been serving their sentences in prison while their lawyers appealed against the verdict. Kuwa was acquitted on 2 January, and Petr was pardoned on 26 February. While rejoicing at their release, pray also that it will signal a change of heart in the government’s attitude towards Christians generally.

Czechoslovakian aid worker Petr Jašek, who had been sentenced to 24 years in a Sudanese prison, was released when 400,000+ people signed a petition for his release. However, pastor Hassan Abduelraheem Kodi and student Abdulmonem Abdumawla are still serving their twelve years behind bars. Christian Solidarity Worldwide said Jašek's release was good news, but the others are Sudanese nationals and are not represented in the same way.

(Updating last week’s Prayer Alert article) On Sunday Judge Osama Ahmed Abdulla found Czech national Petr Jašek guilty of espionage. He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus a further three and a half years and a fine of 100,000 Sudanese pounds (approx. £12,000). Rev’d Abduraheem and Mr Abdumawla were sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment for espionage and a further two years for inciting hatred between sects and for propagation of false news. Lawyers representing the men intend to appeal the verdict and sentences. Joel Edwards of Christian Solidarity Worldwide said, ‘We are profoundly dismayed by this verdict. The serious charges against these men were wholly unwarranted and the excessive sentences unjustified, given the paucity of evidence against them. These men are not spies; they were simply driven by compassion to source finance for the treatment of a man with severe injuries. We call for the annulment of the verdict and the immediate release of these three men.’

On January 29, the court sentenced Petr Jasek to life in prison for espionage, to six months in prison for spreading rumours that undermine the authority of the state, to a fine of 100,000 Sudanese Pounds (approx. USD 16,000) for undertaking NGO work without a permit, and to one year in prison each (to be served consecutively) for inciting strife between communities, for entry in and photography of military areas and equipment, and illegal entry into Sudan.

Rev. Hassan Abduraheem Kodi Taour and Mr. Abdulmonem Abdumawla were each sentenced to ten years for abetting Jasek in the crime of espionage, and one year each for inciting strife between communities and spreading rumours that undermine the authority of the state (even though the legal maximum penalty for this last crime is six months in prison). All of these sentences are to be served consecutively.

The lawyers have indicated they will appeal the sentences within 15 days.

Separately, in a court case against the threatened demolition of four Christian churches, a court ruled that the authorities must supply the lawyer for the churches with an official order for the demolition of the churches. To the lawyer's dismay, the official decision does not just involve the four churches he was representing, but also applies to another 21 places of worship (most of them churches) that are scheduled for demolition.

Christians in Sudan request prayer:

1. that the three convicted Christians will know the Lord's strength and comfort during their ordeal
2. for wisdom for the lawyers defending them
3. for a fair appeal process, and that the three men will be acquitted soon
4. for an end to the increasing pressure against churches and other religious minorities in Sudan, and that Christians will know the peace of the Lord
5. that all officials involved will love mercy, act justly, learn about Jesus and choose to follow Him 

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URL for this prayer request: http://meconcern.org/2017/01/29/sudan-update-on-imprisoned-christians-8/