Sudanese authorities arrested a pastor in Omdurman as he was preaching on February 23 and threatened that he would ‘face justice’ unless he resigned his position.
Personnel from the Criminal Investigation Department entered the compound of Omdurman Evangelical Church and arrested the Rev. Yahya Abdelrahim Nalu as part of a government plan to take over properties of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church.
Authorities held him at the Central Khartoum Police Station for two days. Though the government attempt to seize church property is a civil matter, officials sent the criminal investigators to take Nalu into custody, treating the pastor as if he were a criminal. Authorities told him that if he did not relinquish his position to the government-appointed committee, he would ‘face justice’ in court.