A Sudanese pastor was among seven people killed in apparent extrajudicial executions after being detained by an armed faction in the Nuba Mountains town of Heban.
The Rev. Adil Idris Jangoul of the Sudanese Episcopal Church was arrested July 23 at his residence inside a church compound in Heban’s Erie neighborhood, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Members of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM/N, reportedly took Jangoul into custody and seized his money without resistance.
His body was later discovered along a roadside with six others, all members of the Otoro ethnic group. CSW said all seven had been extrajudicially killed.
Violence also erupted elsewhere in Heban that day when members of the Otoro community carried out a separate attack, killing at least 10 people and taking more than 20 hostages, including children.
Among those abducted was the Rev. Yakoub Brahim Tia, a former general secretary of the Sudanese Church of Christ and a member of the Shawaya ethnic group. Six of his relatives were also taken.
The hostages were released unharmed on July 28 after religious leaders representing several ethnic communities appealed for their freedom.
CSW President Mervyn Thomas expressed concern over the growing violence, some of which appeared to be ethnically driven. He noted that the Nuba Mountains had historically maintained relative coexistence despite Sudan’s dictatorship and the ongoing civil war between the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF.
Thomas called for an investigation into the killings and urged authorities to address ethnic tensions quickly. He also commended local religious leaders for helping secure the hostages’ release and encouraged continued efforts toward peace.
The Otoro, the largest ethnic group in the area, are predominantly Christian.
Christians elsewhere in Sudan are also facing worsening conditions, according to persecution watchdog Open Doors.
The organization said authorities continue to invoke longstanding Islamic laws to pressure Christians to convert and impose physical punishments, while churches have been bombed, confiscated or turned into militia bases. Some longstanding congregations have also lost registration, had churches closed or seen their property destroyed.
Sudan ranked fourth on Open Doors’ World Watch List this year, moving up one position and placing behind only North Korea, Somalia and Yemen among countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.
