13 Observation of Court ordeal 13.1 The trial of Pastors’ and activist The Four defendants There was a Christian conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between 17 th 23rdOctober 2015. The conference was about the situation of Christians in Sudan especially after cessation of South Sudan. Among the attendance of the conference were thirty Christians from Sudan and South Sudan. Pastors Hassan and Kuwa were among the Sudanese participants. Pastor/ Hassan presented a paper about the kind of oppression Christians face from authorities in Sudan. It was during this conference that they met with Peter from Czech Republic among other people. On 18th December 2015, Peter (who was on a visit to Sudan), Hassan, Kuwa, and Moneim among others were arrested by NISS and held in NISS custody for five months until 18th May 2016 when NISS opened a case against the four of them at State Security Prosecutor‟s (SSP) office. Their case number is 41/2016 where they were accused of committing crimes against the state which is Criminal. The laws and articles that the prosecutor accused them of breaching are; 1. Criminal Act (1991)  Article (21):Joint acts in execution of criminal conspiracy  Article (50): Undermining the constitutional system  Article (51): Waging war against the state  Article (53): Espionage against the country 29