Christian
Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has learned that Reverend Kuwa Shamal of the Sudan
Church of Christ, who was arrested by
National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) officers in December 2015,
was unconditionally released on Saturday 16 January 2016. His colleague
Reverend Hassan Abduraheem and Christian activist Talahon Nigosi Kassa Ratta,
who were also arrested in December 2015, remain in detention.
Reverend Shamal was
arrested at his home in Khartoum North on Saturday 19 December 2015. He was
conditionally released on Sunday 20 December 2015 and required to report to the
NISS office daily, where he was held from 8am to midnight. The conditions of
his release were waived on 16 January 2016.
Reverend Hassan
Abduraheem, who was arrested on
the same day as Reverend Shamal, remains in detention in an unknown location
and without having been charged with an offence. His wife submitted a request
to visit her husband to the NISS office in Khartoum. Her request was not
granted; however, the agency confirmed that Reverend Abduraheem was in their
hands.
Christian activist
Talahon Nigosi Kassa Ratta, who was arrested by
NISS agents in Khartoum on 14 December, is also detained without charge. Mr
Ratta is a member of the Sudan Evangelical Presbyterian Church (SEPC), and had
been an active campaigner against the confiscation of the church’s property. He
was last seen by his parents at Kober Men’s Prison at the end of December 2015,
but was subsequently transferred to an unknown location.
The arrests of the
Reverends Shamal and Abduraheem and Mr Ratta occurred in the same month that
Pastor Hafiz Mengisto, Senior Minister of the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical
Church, was tried
and acquitted of obstructing a public servant from performing the duties of
his office. Pastor Mengisto was initially arrested in July 2015, after he tried
to correct the erroneous enforcement of a court order by the police. These
cases underscore the growing and systematic harassment of Christian religious
leaders in Sudan.
CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, “Whilst welcoming the
unconditional release of Reverend Kuwa Shamal, we remain concerned by the
continuing incarceration of Reverend Hassan Abduraheem and Talahon Nigosi Kassa
Ratta. The arrest and detention of these men are arbitrary and violate their
right to liberty and security of person, as articulated in article 9 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and article 6 of
the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), to which Sudan is a
party. We call for their immediate and unconditional release and appeal to the
international community, in particular the African Union to hold Sudan to its
international obligations.”