By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Sudanese authorities have released one of two pastors detained in December.
According to Morning Star News, the Rev. Kwa Shamaal -- head of missions for the Sudanese Church of Christ -- was released on Dec. 21. But the Rev. Hassan Abdelrahim Tawor, SCOC vice-moderator, still remains in detention.
Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services had arrested both pastors at their own homes after they publically proclaimed that Christians faced persecution in Sudan, a state that ranks eighth on Open Doors' 2016 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most persecution.
To date, no charges had been brought against Revs. Shamaal or Tawor, both of whom are from the Nuba Mountain region of South Kordofan state. Rebels from that region had fought alongside the southern Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army in its struggle against Sudan.
Fighting in the region resumed in 2011 after South Sudan became independent of Sudan.