Sudanese pastor pressured to testify against colleagues

A Sudanese pastor said that government officials gave him an ultimatum to testify against his colleagues or be charged along with them.

Rev. Yamane Abraha was one of several Sudanese Christians who joined Rev. Hassan Taour and Rev. Kuwa Shamal to pray for their country. Shamal and Taour were arrested in December 2015, along with Czech Christian aid worker Petr Jasek, after they were suspected of espionage. Abdulmonem Abdumawla, who hails from Darfur, was also detained with them.

The four men were helping to pay for the medical treatment of a student who had suffered from burn wounds when government security officials raided a campus demonstration in Omdurman. Their trial proceedings finally began in August after having been postponed in the past few months. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Abraha, a father of three, said that government officials pressured him to testify against the four men.

"[Sudanese government] security threatened me, saying I would have to appear in court either as a witness, or an accused. But my father was sick, so unlike others I couldn't escape," he told World Watch Monitor.

Abraha was detained on March 13, three months after the arrest of his colleagues. He was released the next day, but he was told to report to the security officials daily. On March 24, he was told to appear in court either as a witness or as an accused.

When his father died on March 26, he and his family traveled eight hours east by bus to bury him in his hometown of Kassala. Two weeks later, he returned to Khartoum and cautiously bought a plane ticket to Egypt.

He checked with a friendly security officer to make sure that he was not on a watch list. Abraha was able to leave for Egypt on April 20. He now supervises 15 house churches among Sudanese refugees.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has started a petition calling for the release of Taour and Shamal.

ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow argued that the two pastors were imprisoned because of their Christian faith. He warned that they could be hanged if believers do not speak up for them.

"Christian Pastors Hassan and Kuwa need your voice now. Time is of the essence, as the trial continues. Our silence could be their death," he said.

"Other Christians facing death in Sudan are now free because you spoke out. Be heard now for these persecuted Christians," he added.