On 18th January Middle East Concern reported the release of Pastor Kuwa Shamal of the Sudan Church of Christ. He was detained on 18th December and held for three days. After his release he was required to report to the security service (the NISS) on a daily basis until mid-January. After a reprieve of one month he was again told to report regularly to the NISS offices.
Pastor Kuwa was re-arrested by the NISS on Tuesday 24th May . His case will be dealt with by the prosecutor together with a case against Pastor Hassan Abduraheem Taour and Abdulmonem Abdumawla Issa Abdumawla. The latter two are expected to face serious charges including espionage and undermining state security.
Pastor Kuwa is one of several pastors from Sudan who had passports and communications devices confiscated by the NISS and were asked to report regularly to the NISS offices. They are being pressured to testify against the others who are due to be on trial. No date has been set for the trial, but it is expected to take place in the near future.
Since July 2015 Middle East Concern has issued several prayer requests for the Evangelical Church in the Bahri area of Khartoum. Part of the land on which the church and its facilities are located was illegally sold to an investor by a committee instituted by the government. Subsequently part of the compound was demolished by court order. On Monday 23rd May the authorities informed the church that they planned to demolish further parts of the compound. However, a lawyer has obtained a court order to suspend demolition work until the appeals court has ruled in a case on the legality of the committee that sold the land.
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Prayer points
Sudanese Christians ask for prayer:
a. that the detained church leaders will know the Lord’s strength, comfort and wisdom during their ordeal
b. for a fair judicial process, and that the charges against them will be dropped
c. that other church leaders will know the Lord’s peace in the face of the increasing pressure against them, and that intimidation and harassment of Christians will cease
d. that all officials involved will love mercy, act justly, learn about Jesus and choose to follow Him
