Global prayers for a missionary stuck in prison have been answered.
Last month, media outlets begged the public at large to lift Czech missionary, Petr Jasek up in prayer for his 20 year prison sentence in Sudan for allegedly “spying” and “incited hatred” in the predominantly Muslim country.
URGENT PRAYER: Missionary Sentenced to 20 Years in Sudanese Prison for Practicing Christianity
Now just a few weeks after Jasek’s conviction, he’s walking free in his homeland of the Czech Republic.
#SUDAN: #Czech missionary Petr Jašek freed from 24-yr jail by Presidential pardon. Good news https://t.co/qCcYNHx3QC pic.twitter.com/L7DwT58ZC5
— Jan Figel (@janfigel) February 26, 2017
Last week, the Sudanese foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour and Czech foreign diplomat Lubomir Zaoralek announced the pardon of Jasek due to “good relations between Sudan and the Czech Republic” in a joint press conference.
However the deal to free the Christian activist wasn’t simple or easy.
After Jasek’s sentence, the Czech government cut ties with the African nation and the only way the two began negotiating over the 53-year-old man’s freedom was through Egypt, a north African nation that acted as a peace broker.
https://twitter.com/joshjcraddock/status/835986116226482179
Unfortunately Jasek wasn’t alone in the prison.
Two other Sudanese men convicted alongside the Christian aid worker at the end of January are still in prison and expected to serve out there 12 year prison sentences. The reasoning for it has left advocates baffled.
A Sudan advocacy officer for the Christian Solidarity Worldwide told a UK Christian media company that, “Logic (should) dictate they should also be freed—perhaps on similar grounds.”
But it hasn’t.
And in terms of “The use of a presidential pardon (it) is a discretionary power—it’s not connected with a legal position as such, so we are really in a position of just waiting and seeing.”
Jasek was arrested after he was stopped in the Sudanese airport in 2015. At the time, he was carrying basic electronics like a computer, cell phone and video camera, Christian Today reported.
We are praising the Lord: VOM Regional Director for Africa, Petr Jasek, has been released after 445 days in prison in #Sudan.
— Voice of the Martyrs (@VOM_USA) February 26, 2017
Sudan is one of the many African and Middle Eastern nations that are considered to be one of the harshest places for Christians to live.
According to Open Doors USA, a non-profit that watches and reports the persecution of Christians across the globe has put the country of Sudan as the 5th hardest nation for people of faith to live in. Saying that, the level of persecution is extreme and the source of oppression is related to the government and the practice of Islam.
Sense Jasek’s release, he has also thanked everyone around the world for lifting him up in prayer and signing a petition to free him from jail.
Pastor Petr Jasek thanked the signers of @CitizenGO's petition for drawing attention to his imprisonment in Sudan. Digital activism CAN work pic.twitter.com/Ig7rCAJRCT
— CitizenGO (@CitizenGO) February 28, 2017
(H/T: Christian Today)
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