Continuing a campaign of harassment against the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) in Sudan’s Al Hag Abdalla, Muslim extremists attacked the church’s pastor on April 10 and then had him charged with breaching the peace, Morning Star News reports.
Two leaders of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) in Sudan’s Al Jazirah state were arrested and detained last month after Muslim extremists complained that the church was disrespectful to their religion, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
Christians in Sudan have renewed concern for their safety and religious freedom following Monday’s military coup in which the head of Sudan’s transitional Sovereign Council, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, arrested civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, his wife, and other officials, Christianity Today (CT) reports.
Sudanese government officials have detained a shipment of Bibles by demanding customs fees from which it is exempt, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. The officials’ actions are cause for concern in light of the new government’s pledge to allow religious freedom in Sudan following the ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Masked gunmen have attacked a Christian government official in Sudan for arranging the return of church properties to Christian communities, several sources confirmed.
Rafat Obid, a leader of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) in Khartoum, was detained and freed on bail on controversial charges, a human rights official told Worthy News Wednesday.
Despite a promise to authorize the church after its building was burned down, on May 27 officials in Sudan demolished a building belonging to the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) in the city of Omdurman, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports.
Christian rights activists are concerned about tensions in Sudan, where at least 14 people were reportedly killed in recent violence in the disputed oil-rich region Abyei.
Earlier this month a Christian youth leader in Sudan was reportedly detained and beaten by suspected national security forces because he spoke out against the January 3 burning of a church building, Morning Star News reports. The case highlights the continued vulnerability of Christians at a time of national transition from the brutal regime of Islamic dictator Omar al-Bashir (who was ousted in 2019) toward a government that seeks to root out long-term corruption and end religious intolerance in the country.
Sudanese authorities detained, mistreated, and threatened to kill a Christian leader who wants to rebuild a church destroyed in an arson attack, Worthy News learned late Monday.
Sudan’s police reportedly detained nine men suspected of repeatedly burning church properties amid ongoing Islamic pressure on minority Christians.
Islamic terrorists in Sudan have burned down a church’s worship tent five times and have threatened to kill congregants if they put up another tent and continue to worship, Morning Star News reports. Sudanese Christians hope that Islamic persecution against them will diminish as dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed in Apr. 2019 and Sudan has a new transitional government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
Several devoted Christians in and around Sudan’s main cities are reportedly prevented from worshiping by authorities and angry mobs despite government pledges to end over three decades of hardline Islamic rule.
Christian converts in Sudan are rejoicing after the transitional government scrapped legislation that made leaving Islam punishable by death, Worthy News learned.
Sudan’s transitional government agreed last week to establish an independent national commission for religious freedom, The Christian Post reported. Together with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) group which fought against ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir, the Transitional Sovereign Council is forming the commission in order to “address all issues relating to religious freedom in order to affirm the principle of peaceful coexistence in the country.”
Two churches in Sudan have been burned down by arsonists in the last month, Sudanese Radio Dabanga reported. This is despite Christian hopes for religious freedom following the ousting of dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. Radio Dabanga was notified of the attacks by Dimas Marajan, a local lawyer and human rights activist.
Christian aid groups, along with pesticide-wielding UN troops, are deploying to eastern Africa to fight a locust swarm that experts say is the worst to hit the region in 70 years and could grow by 500 times between now and June.
In a gesture of reconciliation following years of persecution, the new religious affairs minister of Sudan, Nasr al-Din Mufreh, attended Christmas celebrations in Khartoum to personally apologize for former dictator Omar al-Bashir’s harassment of Christians.
In a discouraging sign, 9 Sudanese pastors originally indicted under Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir have been brought up on charges again.
Muslims and Christians in Sudan are unifying under the banner of democracy after a rare window of opportunity opened following the ousting of longtime military dictator Omar Al-Bashir.