Sudan: pastors detained with no legal charges, denied communication with family

Two Christian pastors have been detained in Sudan since December despite no charges being filed against them.

According to World Watch Monitor, members of the Sudan National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) entered the house of Telahoon Nogosi Kassa Rata, a leader of Khartoum North Evangelical Church and the Fellowship of University Christian Students.

The NISS members, who went to his home on Dec. 12, advised Rata to report the next day to its office.

"He went to the NISS office behind the airport at al-Mashtel the next day, and he has been detained ever since," according to sources who requested to remain anonymous.

Aside from Rata, two Sudanese pastors of the Sudan Church of Christ were also arrested on Dec. 18.

Rev. Kuwa Shamal was arrested in his home in Bahri district, while Rev. Hassan Abduraheem Kodi Taour was taken from his home in Omdurman, which lies across the Nile.

Shamal, who is the head committee at the Sudan Church of Christ, was released three days later. However, he was required by the NISS to report daily up until mid-January.

Rata and Taour are still being kept in an undisclosed location by the Sudanese government. Rata's parents were initially allowed to visit their son, but that was the first and last time that they were permitted to see him.

Taour's lawyer has already written a letter to the Sudanese Human Rights Council, saying that the Christians are being deprived of their basic rights. No reply has been received yet.

Despite not facing any legal charges, the Christians have been kept from communicating with family and friends.