Sudanese authorities have
charged two South Sudanese pastors under laws that call for the death penalty, their attorney said.
National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officials have charged the Rev. Yat Michael and the
Rev. Peter Yein Reith (also transliterated as Peter Yen
Reith) with undermining the constitutional system
(Article 50 of the Sudan Penal Code) and spying
(Article 53) – offenses punishable by death or life imprisonment – and waging war against the state
(Article 51), which calls for the death sentence, said
the pastors’ attorney.
They are also charged with inciting organized forces to complain and assaulting religious beliefs, which call for
prison sentences, the attorney said.
“The charges are serious,” the attorney, a Muslim, told Morning Star News. “However, we are doing everything possible to ensure their release. We hope to hear good
news about their release in coming days.”
NISS is manned by hard-line Islamists who are given broad powers to arrest Christians, black Africans, South Sudanese and other people lowly regarded in
the country that President Omar al-Bashir has pledged will be fully Arabic and Islamic.
The charges appear to
be based solely on the two pastors’ nationality, race and faith, sources said.
Sudan fought a civil war with south Sudanese from 1983 to 2005, and since June 2011 has been fighting a
rebel group in the Nuba Mountains that has its roots in South Sudan, which became a separate country in 2011.
Michael was arrested on Dec. 21, 2014 after visiting a church service in Khartoum, and Reith was arrested on
Jan. 11 after submitting a letter from leaders of their denomination, the South Sudan Presbyterian
Evangelical Church (SSPEC), inquiring about the whereabouts of Michael.
Their location was unknown for months, violating international human rights agreements, but on April 30
they were transferred from Khartoum’s downtown police station to a NISS detention center on Street 51
in Khartoum, Michael’s wife told Morning Star News.
On Monday (May 4) they were transferred to Omdurman Prison, she said.
Morning Star News managed to speak with Michael on Thursday (May 7).
“God will intervene and protect us even in prison despite the serious charges brought against us,” the
pastor said. “Thank you all for your prayers and concerns for us over this long period of imprisonment.”
NISS officials have demanded $12,000 from the SSPEC secretary general, the Rev. Philip Akway
Obang, for the release of the pastors, sources said. Local church leaders expressed their outrage at the
attempt to buy the pastors’ freedom, saying they fear NISS would arrest other Christians and make the same demand in exchange for dropping charges.
A NISS officer who identified himself only as Jamal confirmed that the agency had demanded that the
pastors pay $6,000 each for the charges to be dropped.
The church that Michael had visited and encouraged in December, Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, was the
subject of government harassment, arrests and demolition of part of its worship center as Muslim investors took it over. NISS officials appear to be
determined to punish the pastors for their support of the embattled congregation, sources said.
The two pastors began a hunger strike on April 28 to protest their incarceration. The attorney said the
charges against them were quietly filed in March, and that they are awaiting a hearing on Thursday (May 14) in Khartoum North.
The pastors’ families have waited in agony, not knowing how they have been treated.
“We are still worried about their detention,” Michael’s
wife said. “Let us continue to pray for them so that God can help them to be released.”
Amnesty International has said holding the pastors incommunicado violates the Interim Constitution of
Sudan, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, all of which legally bind the Sudanese Government and all its agents.
“Holding the detainees incommunicado increases their risk of being subjected to torture or ill treatment and/or
enforced disappearance,” Amnesty reported in February.
Other Christians in the Bahri congregation have also been arrested. Police in North Khartoum on Dec. 2 beat and arrested 38 Christians from the church that
Michael encouraged and fined most of them. They were released later that night.
charged two South Sudanese pastors under laws that call for the death penalty, their attorney said.
Rev. Peter Yein Reith (also transliterated as Peter Yen
Reith) with undermining the constitutional system
(Article 50 of the Sudan Penal Code) and spying
(Article 53) – offenses punishable by death or life imprisonment – and waging war against the state
(Article 51), which calls for the death sentence, said
the pastors’ attorney.
They are also charged with inciting organized forces to complain and assaulting religious beliefs, which call for
prison sentences, the attorney said.
“The charges are serious,” the attorney, a Muslim, told Morning Star News. “However, we are doing everything possible to ensure their release. We hope to hear good
news about their release in coming days.”
NISS is manned by hard-line Islamists who are given broad powers to arrest Christians, black Africans, South Sudanese and other people lowly regarded in
the country that President Omar al-Bashir has pledged will be fully Arabic and Islamic.
The charges appear to
be based solely on the two pastors’ nationality, race and faith, sources said.
Sudan fought a civil war with south Sudanese from 1983 to 2005, and since June 2011 has been fighting a
rebel group in the Nuba Mountains that has its roots in South Sudan, which became a separate country in 2011.
Michael was arrested on Dec. 21, 2014 after visiting a church service in Khartoum, and Reith was arrested on
Jan. 11 after submitting a letter from leaders of their denomination, the South Sudan Presbyterian
Evangelical Church (SSPEC), inquiring about the whereabouts of Michael.
Their location was unknown for months, violating international human rights agreements, but on April 30
they were transferred from Khartoum’s downtown police station to a NISS detention center on Street 51
in Khartoum, Michael’s wife told Morning Star News.
On Monday (May 4) they were transferred to Omdurman Prison, she said.
Morning Star News managed to speak with Michael on Thursday (May 7).
“God will intervene and protect us even in prison despite the serious charges brought against us,” the
pastor said. “Thank you all for your prayers and concerns for us over this long period of imprisonment.”
NISS officials have demanded $12,000 from the SSPEC secretary general, the Rev. Philip Akway
Obang, for the release of the pastors, sources said. Local church leaders expressed their outrage at the
attempt to buy the pastors’ freedom, saying they fear NISS would arrest other Christians and make the same demand in exchange for dropping charges.
A NISS officer who identified himself only as Jamal confirmed that the agency had demanded that the
pastors pay $6,000 each for the charges to be dropped.
The church that Michael had visited and encouraged in December, Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, was the
subject of government harassment, arrests and demolition of part of its worship center as Muslim investors took it over. NISS officials appear to be
determined to punish the pastors for their support of the embattled congregation, sources said.
The two pastors began a hunger strike on April 28 to protest their incarceration. The attorney said the
charges against them were quietly filed in March, and that they are awaiting a hearing on Thursday (May 14) in Khartoum North.
The pastors’ families have waited in agony, not knowing how they have been treated.
“We are still worried about their detention,” Michael’s
wife said. “Let us continue to pray for them so that God can help them to be released.”
Amnesty International has said holding the pastors incommunicado violates the Interim Constitution of
Sudan, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, all of which legally bind the Sudanese Government and all its agents.
“Holding the detainees incommunicado increases their risk of being subjected to torture or ill treatment and/or
enforced disappearance,” Amnesty reported in February.
Other Christians in the Bahri congregation have also been arrested. Police in North Khartoum on Dec. 2 beat and arrested 38 Christians from the church that
Michael encouraged and fined most of them. They were released later that night.
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