Sudanese Government Arrests Church's Leaders in Attempt to Take Over Denomination

Christian Church in Sudan

By Florence Gildea

Christian Today

Observers fear a campaign is being made by the Sudanese government to take control of the country's churches as Sudanese police detain eight church leaders in the last six weeks.

Mahjob Abotrin, a senior leader within the Sudan Church of Christ (SCOC), was arrested on 22 September. He was interrogated and has since been released. But it is not known whether he has been charged with any offence.

According to World Watch Monitor, he was arrested because he refused let government-appointed officials take over leadership of the denomination. The Sudanese government has been trying to manage the affairs of several denominations in the country by removing the church-appointed leadership.

Last month security officials told four other members of SCOC's leadership committee that charges would be brought against them after they refused to let government officials take over the premises of the Church's office.

In August, seven senior SCOC leaders were arrested and interrogated before being released on bail. Included among these was Kuwa Shamal, the Church's head of missions. He was previously detained in December 2015 until January this year when he was released because of a lack of evidence. Two others arrested with him were released in May.

Christians in Sudan are facing a prolonged campaign of intimidation waged by the government, which has included the confiscation of their properties.

The persecution of Christians in the country has increased since the Christian-majority south seceded from the Muslim-majority north in 2011.

Website: Christian Today

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Christians Beat Down by Egyptian Authorities for Demanding Release of Girl Kidnapped by Muslims

By Samuel Smith

Christian Post

The brother of an Egyptian Christian girl who has been missing for over a month says his family was attacked by Egyptian security officials while they were protesting for the release of his sister.

According to World Watch Monitor, 18-year-old Hanan Girgis, who is from the village of Esna in Upper Egypt, has been missing since Jan. 26 and the family has accused the police of being complicit in her abduction after a suspect who admitted to having a connection with Girgis' disappearance was released by authorities.

Rezeiky Girgis, Hanan's brother, told World Watch Monitor last week that he was recently told by Civil Status Authority at the Esna police station that his sister was issued a new identification card from National Security Services and that she was given a new Muslim identity.

The family's lawyer, Barsoum Wahba, told WWM that authorities "know where Hanan is and who kidnapped her."

After hearing that Hanan had been given a new ID, family members went to the security headquarters in Luxor and insisted that she be released. However, officials reportedly insulted them and denied they knew who was holding her captive.

Hanan's family and friends later gathered outside of the security building to protest and sing worship songs. Girgis claims that his family's demonstration was interrupted by security officers who came out and assaulted them.

"They broke the leg of my 23-year-old brother and wounded my older brother, Amir, who's 28," Girgis explained.

He also said the officers "dragged my mother and beat my three aunts." He added that two other relatives were hurt in the altercation.

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Egypt: Christian Couple Stabbed to Death on Coptic Christmas Day

By Edwin Marro
Brietbart

At least three members of the Coptic Christian minority have been killed so far this year in Egypt, including a couple found in their bed with their throats slit on January 6, the traditional Coptic Christmas Day, reports Christian Today, citing World Watch Monitor (WWM).

The couple has been identified by WWM, an organization that covers Christian persecution across the globe, as Gamal Sami, 60, and his wife, Nadia, 48.

While police have cited robbery as the motivation for the deaths, the woman’s brother and the first person to reach the crime scene, Magdy Amin Girgis, has suggested they were murdered because of their faith, noting that nothing had been taken from the couple’s home.

Girgis told the Christian organization that he found the couple with their throats cut and “drenched in blood,” still on their bed.

WWM notes:

The murders followed another deadly attack on a Coptic Christian only three days earlier. Youssef Lamei was murdered in Alexandria on 3 January by an alleged “professional” killer.

 The attack on the couple bore similarities with Lamei’s murder, according to reports.

The main suspects for the double killing are two men known only as Mohammad M and Abd al-Aziz Q, according to the police. It is understood that the two men did not know their victims.  

The couple is reportedly from the mainly Christian village of Tukh El-Dalkah, near Tala, home to three churches that canceled their Christmas services to mourn the dead.

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Mexico 'In Denial' Over Thousands Of Evangelicals Forced Out Of Homes

At least 30 families from the Tuxpan de Bolaños area of Mexico were forced to
leave in January 2016 because their evangelical faith was seen as a threat,
according to World Watch Monitor Open Doors International

By Harry Farley
Christianity Today

Mexico has been accused of a "policy of denial" over the thousands of evangelicals forced out of homes for their beliefs.

According to the Mexican Commission for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights, more than 287,000 cases of forced internal displacement took place in the last five years. But the UN-accredited National Human Rights Commission puts the figure at around 35,000.

However, Pedro Faro Navarro, director of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center, disputes both numbers and accused the government of "making up the figures", according to World Watch Monitor. And he says the government is in denial about the number of people forced to move because they left the traditional Catholic Church for branches of evangelical Protestantism.

"There are some who speak of more than a million people," he said. "For the time being, what we know for definite is that the lowest number is always the official one." Many families have to leave their homes and nobody comes to count them, he added.

The problems between evangelical Christians and traditional communities are not uniform, said Faro. Some involve religious differences but others also involve political power struggles. "Each case is different and has to be well analysed," he said, according to the persecution watchdog.

Faro said the government is ignoring the situation because to admit a problem would mean having to confront it. He said the Mexican government would not intervene because it was trying to encourage foreign investment in territories "where there are indigenous villages that are practically for sale".

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