Mob kills church elder during raid on Christian school in Sudan

A Sudanese church elder was killed after he was attacked by a mob during a raid at a Christian school that is being seized by a Muslim businessman.

Younan Abdullah, an elder with Bahri Evangelical Church, was stabbed while he was defending women at the Evangelical School of Sudan.

Christians had planned to stage a protest against the attempted seizure of the school. However, police from the Omdurman Central Division, accompanied by a group supported by Sudan's Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowment, arrived at the school first and arrested all the men, Morning Star News reported.

According to the advocacy group Middle East Concern (MEC), about 20 men arrived at the school with knives and other weapons and began to beat the women. Among them were members of a committee the government has illegally imposed on the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC).

"Several men from the nearby Bahri Evangelical Church rushed to the church to try and protect the women," MEC leaders said in a statement. "The armed men attacked them, and two church members were stabbed," they added.

Abdullah and another church member were brought to a nearby hospital, but he later died of his injuries. He is survived by his wife and two children. The other member, Ayoub Kumama, has since been treated and released from the hospital.

Although the police were present during the attack, they failed to intervene, and they also did not help Abdullah after he was stabbed, MEC revealed.

"Following Younan's death, the police arrested Mr. Shamshoun Hamoud, a member of the illegal committee who was identified by eyewitnesses as the person who stabbed Younan. None of the other attackers have been arrested," MEC leaders stated.

A funeral service has been held for Abdullah at the school on April 4, and three days of mourning has been declared. The service was attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Sudan and the Second Secretary of the British Embassy.

On March 27, police in Omdurman arrested 12 staff members of the school and prevented others from leaving the campus on the next day.

The staff members were accused of obstructing the work of Education Vision, which is trying to take over the school. School personnel said that the institution still functions as a Christian school but representatives of Education Vision are regularly disrupting the classes.

MEC noted that the illegally imposed committee has been selling church properties to businessmen aligned with the government since 2013.

The Evangelical School of Sudan is one of several SPEC schools across the country. SPEC leadership remains in the hands of government-appointed committee members despite the November 2016 court ruling that declared the appointments illegal.

The persecution of Christians has been augmented since the secession of South Sudan in 2011 when President Omar al-Bashir pledged to enforce a stricter version of Sharia or Islamic law. In April, the Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Endowments said that it will no longer grant new licenses for building new churches in the country, citing the decrease in the South Sudanese population.

Persecution watchdog group Open Doors has ranked Sudan in the 2017 World Watch List as the fifth nation where Christians face the most persecution.