Pastors Kuwa Shamal and Hassan Taour
Helping suffering people and persecuted Christians in Sudan's Nuba Mountains will land you in jail.
Four Christians who have done just that are now standing trial in Khartoum, accused by the Sudanese government of conducting intelligence activities and providing material support for anti-government rebels.
Three of the four defendants are Sudanese church leaders and one is a Czech national. The Czech is a former hospital administrator and humanitarian named Petr Jasek.
I know Jasek and have spent time with him during my travels in Africa. He is a kind, compassionate Christian who has worked tirelessly helping suffering Christians in Sudan, Nigeria and other places around the world.
Last December, when the government arrested Jasek, Rev. Hassan Abdelrahim Taour, Rev. Kuwa Shamal, and Abdelmoneim Abdelmoula, they possessed a camera and a copy of a video about Christian persecution in Sudan. That led the prosecutor to accuse the men of being filmmakers who had fabricated video incidents of genocide.
The Voice of the Martyrs has worked with Jasek and says he has "never made nor released a film, nor has he made political statements."
The video apparently depicted the burning of villages and featured persecution testimonies. One man described how he was burned when his village was attacked by marauding Muslims. Under government pressure, he recanted his testimony and said Jasek and the others misunderstood that he had actually received the burns during an automobile accident.
The prosecutor reportedly said the Christians had sought to "distort the image of the government" by disseminating false information that could be used to put international pressure on the country.
But Sudan already has a tarnished image and its president, Omar Al-Bashir is the real criminal here, not some pastors and a Czech humanitarian.
Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for committing genocide in Darfur and war crimes against humanity. His Islamist government has continued to arrest pastors and demolish churches. His crimes are well documented by the U.S. government and have caused groups like Open Doors to list the country as one of the top worldwide persecutors of Christians.
The unwarranted imprisonment and trial of these four men have only provided the international community with another reason to bring a halt to the crimes of Bashir.
Please pray for these Christians and their families.
Pray that God will visit them during their times of despair and loneliness. Pray they'll be encouraged and will be given the mental and physical strength to endure this hardship.
Pray they will soon be reunited with their loved ones.