Two Presbyterian pastors are on trial in the Republic of the Sudan on charges of waging war against the state, espionage, and undermining Sudan’s constitutional system. Each faces the death penalty if convicted.
Sudan is holding two others, Czech aid worker Petr Jasek and Darfuri human rights activist Abduelmoneim Abdulmawla, on charges of conspiring against the state, provoking hatred against or among sects and spreading false information.
Pastors Kuwa Shamal Abu Zumam and Abdulraheem Kodi are evangelical pastors serving in the Church of Christ in Sudan, a predominantly Muslim nation. The government arrested them in their churches before their incarceration.
Zumam and Kodi reside in the Nuba Mountains, which Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir has regularly bombed. Human rights and Christian aid groups describe the government’s actions as “ethnic cleansing” as the indigenous Nuba people don’t fit the president’s vision of an Islamic nation.
Al-Bashir, who has an outstanding warrant from the international criminal court for war crimes in Darfur, strives for a Sudan with “one language (Arabic) and one religion (Islam).”
Bishop of Kadugli Diocese Reverend Andudu Adam Elnail, lives in South Carolina after fleeing Sudan in 2011. He continues to monitor the apparent civil rights abuses there.
“The government is not interested in the Christian religion. There is no freedom for us, we cannot build churches, we are treated as second-class citizens,” Elnail said. “We need the international community to pressure the government of Sudan to give us our freedom of religion.”
Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s Kiri Kankhwende said that since 2011 when South Sudan seceded, the plight of Sudan Christians in the north has been precarious.
“The government has called for a 100 percent Islamic nation with a constitution based wholly on Shariah law,” Kankhwende told FoxNews.com. “The restrictions placed on Christians over the last five years indicate that the government is moving toward this goal.”
The Voice of the Martyrs is advocating for the four imprisoned men.
“We are literally fighting for these men’s lives,” said Todd Nettleton, spokesperson for The Voice of the Martyrs. “The case against two pastors, an aid worker and another Sudanese man revolves around providing medical care to an injured Darfur native, Mr. Ali Omer,” Nettleton said.
Pray for the freedom of the pastors and aid workers on trial in the Republic of the Sudan under apparent false accusations.
Fox News: Christian pastors face death penalty if convicted in Sudan
Daily News: Trial to resume in Sudan for Christian pastors who could face death penalty
Voice of the Martyrs: SUDAN: FOUR ON TRIAL; Two pastors, Czech aid worker among four on trial
