Posted: 07/30/2015 at 1:00pm
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Final
Appeal for Justice made by Attorneys for South Sudanese Pastors Facing
Execution
By Michael Ireland, Senior Reporter, ASSIST News Service (answritermike@gmail.com)
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN (ANS, July 25, 2015) -- Attorneys for two
South Sudanese pastors facing the death penalty made their closing arguments on
Thursday (July 23) before a judge who appears to favor the prosecution, sources
told Morning Star News (http://morningstarnews.org).
According to the news outlet’s Sudan Correspondent, defense lawyers concluded
their case at Khartoum Bahri Court with the assertion that agents from the
National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) illegally arrested the Rev.
Yat Michael on Dec. 14, 2014 and the Rev. Peter Yein Reith on Jan. 11.
“Justice requires that you don’t judge [arrest] simply because you doubt
[suspect] them without any concrete evidence,” one lawyer said.
Morning Star News reports that Michael, 49, was arrested after delivering a
message of encouragement to a North Khartoum church in the face of a
government-aided take-over of the congregation’s property. The 36-year-old Reith
was arrested after submitting a letter from leaders of their denomination, the
South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SSPEC), inquiring about the
whereabouts of Michael.
Morning Star News stated, in an online report, that during their trial a NISS
official accused the pastors of collecting information for a human rights group.
The charges, including espionage and promoting hatred among or against sects,
were formed months after authorities arrested them.
“The judge in the last hearing seemed to be supporting the prosecution,” said
a source who requested anonymity. “The whole issue is politically motivated, and
the two pastors are innocent, but the lawyers asked the judge to respect laws
and the constitution and not aid NISS in violation of the constitution.”
Morning Star News explained that the charge of spying (Article 53 of the
Sudanese Penal Code) is punishable by death, life imprisonment or prison and
confiscation of property. The charge of promoting hatred among or against sects
(Article 64) is punishable by up to two years in prison.
The news outlet further stated the pastors are also charged with undermining
the constitutional system (Article 50), punishable by death, life imprisonment,
or imprisonment and confiscation of property; disclosure and obtaining
information and official documents (Article 55), punishable by two years in
prison or a fine; blasphemy/insulting religious creeds (Article 125), punishable
by one year of imprisonment or a fine or no more than 40 lashes; disturbance of
the public peace (Article 69), punishable by six months of prison, or a fine or
no more than 20 lashes; and joint acts in execution of a criminal conspiracy
(Article 21).
According to the Morning Star News report, NISS has presented as evidence
maps and other easily accessible documents taken from their confiscated laptops,
as well as a NISS study guide that the pastors say was not on their computers
when they were arrested. During their trial, the defense presented an IT expert
who testified about how easy it would be for others to plant the documents on
their computers without their knowledge, according to Middle East Concern
(MEC).
A retired general also testified that the documents used as evidence against
the pastors are in the public domain and are not related to military or other
state secrets as the prosecution has alleged, according to MEC.
The defense attorney on Thursday told the judge that Michael did not violate
Sudanese law – specifically, “insulting religious creeds” – while preaching at
Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, as he was just carrying out his duty as a
pastor.
“To urge believers to be zealous for their church is not an insult against
God,” the attorney said.
The defense team asserted that the two pastors were illegally detained for a
long period without trial, Morning Star News reported.
“This is illegal and against the Bill of Rights called for in Sudan’s
constitution,” the defense team stated in a filing with the court.
The lawyers called on the court to respect the constitution rather than
excessive powers granted to NISS to arrest and detain any person at length
without trial. NISS is manned by hardline Islamists who are given broad powers
to arrest Christians, black Africans, South Sudanese and other people lowly
regarded in the country that President Omar al-Bashir has pledged will be fully
Arabic and Islamic.
The defense also stated that the court should drop charges against the two
church leaders due to a critical lack of physical evidence.
“These charges are built on sand,” they concluded in their filing.
A verdict is expected at a hearing on Aug. 5.
The Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church that Michael had encouraged in December
was the subject of government harassment, arrests and demolition of part of its
worship center as Muslim investors tried to take it over. Police in North
Khartoum on Dec. 2 beat and arrested 38 Christians from the church that Michael
encouraged and fined most of them. They were released later that night.
On Oct. 5, 2013, Sudan’s police and security forces broke through the church
fence, beat and arrested Christians in the compound and asserted parts of the
property belonged to a Muslim investor accompanying them. As Muslims nearby
shouted, “Allahu Akbar [God is greater],” plainclothes police and personnel from
NISS broke onto the property aboard a truck and two Land Cruisers. After beating
several Christians who were in the compound, they arrested some of them; they
were all released later that day.
Morning Star News explained that harassment, arrests and persecution of
Christians have intensified since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011,
when Bashir vowed to adopt a stricter version of sharia (Islamic law) and
recognize only Islamic culture and the Arabic language. The Sudanese Minister of
Guidance and Endowments announced in April 2013 that no new licenses would be
granted for building new churches in Sudan, citing a decrease in the South
Sudanese population.
The news outlet further explained that Sudan since 2012 has expelled foreign
Christians and bulldozed church buildings on the pretext that they belonged to
South Sudanese. Besides raiding Christian bookstores and arresting Christians,
authorities threatened to kill South Sudanese Christians who do not leave or
cooperate with them in their effort to find other Christians.
The news agency said Sudan fought a civil war with the south Sudanese from
1983 to 2005, and in June 2011, shortly before the secession of South Sudan the
following month, the government began fighting a rebel group in the Nuba
Mountains that has its roots in South Sudan.
Due to its treatment of Christians and other human rights violations, Sudan
has been designated a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department
since 1999, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
recommended the country remain on the list in its 2015 report.
Sudan ranked sixth on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2015 World
Watch List of 50 countries where Christians face most persecution, moving up
from 11th place the previous year. Source: Assist News
Service
Edited by News Room on 07/30/2015 at 1:02pm
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