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After a church was demolished in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday – despite the resistance of the community – the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accuses the authorities of trying to stop Christians from practicing their faith by destroying their churches and by intimidating the believers. „With the destruction of churches and the restrictions of religious freedom for religious minorities, Sudan is violating both international law and its own constitution,“ said the STP’s Africa-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Wednesday. „Christians and other religious minorities should not be treated as fair game. Their property cannot simply be confiscated and they must not be kept from practicing their freedom of religion“.
On December 2, 2014, the police had cordoned off the Protestant Bahri church in the north of Khartoum and had started to tear down the house of worship. This was preceded by several weeks of dispute with the municipality concerning the property ownership. 37 young members of the community were arrested and sentenced to fines in summary proceedings. The authorities accused them of ignoring an eviction order and of resistance against the police. Five leading representatives of the community were arrested too.
The church building was confiscated after a group of investors had raised a claim. First, the community’s youth center had been torn down on November 17. Then, the believers had organized a human chain and thus managed to stop the demolition of further buildings. In addition, the religious community had presented ownership documents and requested the court to revoke its order. The court announced that it would decide in the matter on December 4, but the authorities issued another demolition-order: On November 19, again, hundreds of worshipers had to form a human chain to protect the church from being torn down by bulldozers.
In Sudan, the destruction of the church is not an isolated case. In June and February of 2014, two churches in Khartoum and Omdurman were demolished following according orders by the authorities. For months, Sudan’s Minister of Religion, Shalil Abdullah, reiterated that there would be no more permits to build new churches. For Christians in Sudan, such restrictions on freedom of religion are not new – but they have increased again since the independence of South Sudan in 2011. In June 2014, the case of Mariam Yahia Ibrahim – a young mother who had been sentenced to death for apostasy – had caused a global uproar. Following the protests, she was released and could finally leave Sudan on July 24, 2014.
Sudanese Christs are praying in a church in Khartum.
Ulrich Delius is available for further queations: +49 (0)551 49906 27 or 65]G378o2<:C72.
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