Authorities in Sudan arrested a Presbyterian pastor last month, alongside other believers, in the middle of a funeral service.
The officials interrupted the funeral prayer meeting in North Khartoum on Aug. 16, arresting Pastor Peter Perpeny of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, as well as four other believers, according to a report from Morning Star News.
The Christians were allegedly foreigners present in the country illegally, but they have been neither charged nor deported, the outlet said.
The believers were sent to Omdurman Prison.
One of the detainees, a female, was told she had to pay 600,000 Sudanese pounds, equivalent to $995, in order to be released.
She may face six months in jail if she is unable or unwilling to pay the fine, which a church leader told Morning Star News appears to be a bribe.
The arrests come as part of a broader trend toward Christians getting arrested in the predominantly Islamic nation, which has been in a civil war for the past two years.
Police are currently searching for Ethiopian and South Sudanese nationals, heightening the risks of arrest toward Christians.
“In fact, there is a growing fear among the South Sudanese Christians, so they remain indoors in order to avoid being arrested,” the church leader told Morning Star News.
Both sides of the civil war, the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, are Islamic military groups that have attacked places of worship.
The broader conflict has killed tens of thousands of people while displacing at least 11.9 million more.
Sudan had been seeing increased religious freedom before the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces staged a coup in 2021 and started sharing power.
Omar Al-Bashir, an Islamic strongman dictator, had been removed after three decades of power in 2019, and the new government has reversed some Islamic laws.
They had nixed laws labeling non-Muslim groups as infidels and reversed apostasy laws enabling capital punishment against those who leave Islam.
Christians make up 4.1 percent of the Sudanese population, and the nation’s Sunni Islamic majority has been known to persecute them, according to the ministry Open Doors.
“Christians are also experiencing exceptional hardship in the hunger crisis because local communities discriminate against them and won’t give them support,” the organization said.
“Much of the church in Sudan, which might have been able to help with aid distribution, is on the run.”
Christians who come from Islamic backgrounds are particular targets for violence and imprisonment.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
