Sudan arrests, tortures Christians in Darfur over apostasy charges
October 30, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese security service detained and tortured a priest and 8 people from Darfur region forcing the latter to revert to Islam after their conversion to Christianity, said a Sudanese rights group.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) called to abolish the crime of apostasy which is punishable by death under Sudanese Islamic penal law in contradiction with the constitution of 2005 which guarantees the religious freedom.
Earlier this month on 13 October, the security service in South Darfur arrested 12 people who were worshipping in a local church located in Al-Matar neighbourhood of Nyala.
However, the security agents two hours later released three of them from the Nuba ethnic group of Kawaleeb of South Kordofan.
Eight Christians, from Darfur region, were released on 21 October after forcing them to return to Islam under torture and threats of the death penalty, said the ACJPS.
On 22 October, the priest who is also a Darfurian was finally released on bail, after being charged with apostasy under Article 126 of the Sudanese Criminal Act of 1991 as he refused to return Islam.
“ACJPS remains concerned about the provision of the crime of apostasy and the provision of the death penalty as punishment for those found guilty of apostasy,”. said the rights group which is based outside Sudan.
The statement further condemned the use of the death penalty and called on the Sudanese government to respect the right to freedom of religion and abolish the crime of apostasy.
Sudanese authorities are accused of persecuting Christians and denying them to build churches. Recently, Khartoum stopped the demolition of a number of churches considered as illegal by the state authorities after pressures from Washington.
Sudan seeks its removal from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, but the U.S administration has set a number of conditions including religious freedom.
(ST)