ICC Note
Another Pastor was arrested in Omdurman, Sudan, on 22 September, 2017. This comes just one month after 7 other pastors and church leaders had been arrested in Aug. He was held for several hours and interrogated before being released. It is not known if he has formally been charged with anything yet, but he was given the same ultimatum as the other arrested church leaders. The government has told all of the men that they must give up control of their congregations to government appointed leaders. None of them have so far as it is completely illegal for the government to require them too. The Khartoum regime is trying to rid Sudan of all Christians by destroying places of worship and removing leadership. We pray that their efforts fail, and for the protection and faith of the Christians living there.
2017-09-26 Sudan (MorningstarNews) A month after seven church leaders were arrested, interrogated and released on bail, police in Sudan detained and questioned another church leader in Omdurman on Friday (Sept. 22), sources said.
Elder Mahjoub Abotrin of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) was arrested from his home in Omdurman, across the Nile River from Khartoum, and was interrogated before he was released. It was not clear if he was charged with any offense, but sources said that he was arrested because of his refusal to hand over SCOC leadership to government-appointed leadership.
The current leadership expires on March 2018. The SCOC constitution calls for a general assembly every three years to appoint church leaders.
Rev. Kwa Shamaal (also transliterated Kuwa Shamaal), SCOC head of missions, confirmed the arrest of Abotrin to Morning Star News.
“We cannot allow them [government-appointed committee members] to take over the church,” Shamaal said.
On Aug. 23 seven church leaders were arrested, jailed for six hours and interrogated for refusing to comply with a government order to hand over church leadership to the government’s committee. The leaders were released on bail after authorities told them to comply with the government order, which they roundly rejected.
Shamaal and the Rev. Ayoub Mattan, SCOC moderator, were among the church leaders arrested. Pastor Shamaal was previously arrested on Dec. 18, 2015 and acquitted on Jan. 2 this year of charges ranging from spying to inciting hatred against the government.
Pastors Mattan, Shamaal and the others are still members of the legitimate executive committee of the SCOC.
Another SCOC pastor, the Rev. Hassan Abdelrahim Tawor, had received a 12-year sentence earlier this year after being charged with spying and trying to tarnish Sudan’s image, but he was freed along with Abdulmonem Abdumawla of Darfur on May 11 after receiving a presidential pardon.
He had been arrested along with Pastor Shamaal in December 2015. They were convicted on baseless charges of assisting Czech aid worker Petr Jasek – pardoned and released on Feb. 25 – in alleged espionage, causing hatred among communities and spreading false information, according to their attorney.
…
