---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 9:07 AM Subject: [sudans-john-ashworth] Khartoum court frees pastors To: Group <[email protected]>
Khartoum court acquits South Sudanese pastors accused of espionage August 5, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese court on Wednesday acquitted two South Sudanese pastors accused of who were charged with espionage and inciting tribal sentiments and ordered their immediate release. Reverend Yat Michael and Reverend Peter Yen – of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (PEC) – have been detained by Sudan’s security services in Khartoum at two separate occasions. Michael, a visiting pastor from South Sudan, was taken into custody last December after giving a service at the Khartoum North church of the PEC. Reverend Peter Yen was also visiting Khartoum when he was arrested last January after responding to a summons to report to an office of the NISS. The two pastors faced charges under articles (26), (50), (51), (53), (62) and (125) of the Sudanese penal code. Some of those charges are punishable by death. A large number of journalists and Western diplomats besides the families of the accused were in attendance at the courtroom when the presiding Judge, Ahmed Gabosh read out his verdict acquitting the two pastors. The court also decided to return the exhibits including mobile phones, iPads and laptops to the two pastors. The judge pointed that pastor Michael was convicted for disturbing public peace, saying he spoke in a lecture at the Presbyterian Evangelical Church (PEC) in Khartoum North without being authorised by the competent authorities. He added that the pastor in the lecture touched on several issues that harm the public interests. On the other hand, pastor Yen was convicted of running a terrorist organization after he admitted that he received money from foreign organization and handed it over to delegates in all Sudan’s states. The judge considered that the eight months that the two pastors had so far spent in prison is sufficient enough to serve as their punishment. It is worth noting that the US ambassador for international religious freedom, David N. Saperstein, on Tuesday discussed with Sudanese officials at the foreign ministry the situation of religious freedom and raised pressing issues facing the Non-Muslims in Sudan. However, the foreign ministry spokesperson Ali al-Sadiq denied that the meeting discussed the case of the two south Sudanese pastors. He said the meeting tackled religious freedom and the desire of the US administration to cooperate with the government on its religious annual reports. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article55934 END ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 79 832 8834 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 364 2508 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52662 - 00100, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudans-john-ashworth" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sudans-john-ashworth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob View this message at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14oofOJBxLs7qtwvjdLm1ZUCgTsTzDjd0vZ8UnvxHdXHxXQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
