A senior cleric in the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan has called for the release of four men, including three pastors, held in detention in Sudan by national security agents. 

Bishop Andudu Elnail, who is the chairman of the Committee for Religious Freedom and Citizenship Rights (CRFCR), called for the immediate release of the men being held, adding that their charges should be cancelled and their trial stopped. 

The bishop from diocese of Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains, has accused THE Sudan government of a deliberate persecution policy aimed at uprooting Christians from the country.

“In pursuance of this new policy, three priests and an abstract artist have been unlawfully arrested by the agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS),” he said.  

Bishop Andudu is urging the international community to put pressure on the government of Sudan to respect the constitutional rights of Sudanese citizens, including observing religious freedom; to stop persecution of Christians; and to stop destroying churches and places of worship. 

He revealed that the men being detained are Rev. Hassan Kodi Taour, a 49-year-old Nuba native, who is the Secretary-General of the Sudanese Church of Christ; Pastor Kuwa Shemaal, a 40-year-old Nuba native, who is the Head of the Missions of the Sudanese Church of Christ; Abd al-Moneim ‘Abd al-Moula Issa, a 30-year-old native from Darfur, who is a pastor and human rights activist; and Peter al-Jack, an abstract artist.

“We are gravely concerned about the Sudanese Government’s ongoing detention of these pastors,” he said in statement.

The four, who have been in detention since December 2015, are charged with conspiring against the state, espionage, entering and photographing military areas, calling for the use of violence against the authorities, provoking hatred against or among sects and spreading false information. If convicted, the four could either be sentenced to death or imprisoned for life.