Tag: Darfur

Sudanese church leader charged with apostasy

October 26, 2018 Sudan Apostasy, Darfur, Mariam Ibrahim, NISS, Nuba Mountains, Nyala, Police, Sudan

Yousef denied to recant his Christian faith and now faces apostasy charges for which he can receive the death penalty. (Photo: UNAMID via Flickr; CC 2.0)

A Sudanese church leader is scheduled to appear in a Darfuri court on Sunday, 28 October, on charges of apostasy, after he refused to recant his faith while in police custody, Middle East Concern (MEC) reports. Tajadin Idris Yousef was the leader of the group of 13 Sudanese Christians taken . . . Read More

Sudanese Christians beaten before release

October 23, 2018 Sudan Darfur, Mariam Ibrahim, NISS, Nyala, Religious freedom, Sudan

It is not clear if any of the released Christians will face further prosecution. (Photo: Getty Images)

A group of Darfuri Christians arrested last week have now been released but only after they faced severe pressure for their faith and were beaten while in detention, a local source has told World Watch Monitor. The group of 13 Christians were taken by security officials from a home they . . . Read More

Sudan: 13 Christians arrested in Darfur, another church told to hand over property

October 17, 2018 Sudan Darfur, NISS, Nyala, Omdurman, Sudan, Sudanese Church of Christ

Sudan's Christians feel that recent developments such as the handing back of property to churches and the release of a shipment of Bibles, were merely "cosmetic" efforts to placate the international community into normalising relations. (Photo: Getty Images)

Sudanese security officials arrested 13 Christians in the western region of Darfur on Saturday, 13 October. The Christians were taken from a home they share in the city of Nyala, southwest Darfur, by officials belonging to the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) but it is not clear on what . . . Read More

Religious freedom ‘essential goal’ in normalising relations with Sudan – US commission

June 28, 2018 Sudan Churches, Darfur, Human rights, Khartoum, Minorities, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, USA

While church properties were returned to the SCOC, other church bodies like SPEC are also in conflict with the government over the ownership of their properties in Bahri (Khartoum North) and Omdurman. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A new report highlights the lack of religious freedom in Sudan and says improvements in this area remain “an essential goal” for the US before relations between the two countries can be fully normalised. A delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan advisory body, . . . Read More

US installs Sam Brownback as religious freedom ambassador

January 25, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Darfur, Mike Pence, Religious freedom, Sam Brownback, USA

Sam Brownback was confirmed as Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom in January.

The US Senate has confirmed Sam Brownback as the new head of the Office of International Religious Freedom. Brownback is the first ambassador under the US’s revised International Religious Freedom Act, which affirms a commitment to international religious freedom as a foreign relations policy. Brownback, 60, ran for president in . . . Read More

US to lift Sudan sanctions despite human rights concerns

October 9, 2017 Sudan Darfur, Human rights, North Korea, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, UN, USA

Teenage girls carry water in a refugee camp for people from the Nuba Mountains in Sudan. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US has announced it will lift economic sanctions on Sudan “in recognition of [its] positive actions” in fighting terrorism, expanding humanitarian access and reinforcing a cease-fire in conflict areas, but rights groups say the decision is premature as there has been little progress on human rights. The decision, which . . . Read More

US nominates new religious freedom ambassador

July 27, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Darfur, Human rights, Religious freedom, Sam Brownback, USA

US President Donald Trump intends to nominate Sam Brownback, a Republican Governor from Kansas, as Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, the White House has announced. He will become head of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom which is dedicated to monitoring religious freedom abuses around the world. Religious . . . Read More

Ceasefire extended in Nuba, Blue Nile, Darfur

January 25, 2017 Sudan Barack Obama, Blue Nile, Darfur, Nuba Mountains, Sanctions, Sudan

The Sudan government last week said it’s extended a “ceasefire” for another six months in the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, and Darfur – where it says it’s fighting rebels. “If the ceasefire holds, it would be the first time in six years of war that the Nuba people experienced a . . . Read More

Sudanese pastors pressured to ‘inform’ or stand trial

December 16, 2016 Sudan Abdulmonem Abdumawla, Apostasy, Blue Nile, Darfur, Hassan Taour, Islamic extremism, Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal, Nuba Mountains, Omar al-Bashir, Petr Jašek, Refugees, Sharia

Forty-eight-year-old father of three Rev. Yamane Abraha received an ultimatum in Khartoum following a trip to Ethiopia in the autumn of 2015. “[Sudanese government] security threatened me, saying I would have to appear in court either as a witness, or an accused,” the Evangelical Baptist Church of Khartoum pastor told . . . Read More

Coptic monk kidnapped in Darfur released

May 26, 2016 Sudan Darfur, Kidnapping, Nyala, Sudan

An Egyptian-born monk has been released, 40 days after he was abducted in Sudan’s embattled Darfur region, reports Fides. Rev. Ghabrial al-Antony, a Coptic Orthodox monk working in Nyala, South Darfur, was kidnapped on 14 April by an armed group, not far from the refugee camp in Atash. According to . . . Read More

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