{"id":1758,"date":"2023-09-16T14:43:24","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T14:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/16\/bishop-of-nicaragua-urgently-appeals-to-rights-organization-regarding-unjust-incarceration\/"},"modified":"2023-09-16T14:43:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T14:43:24","slug":"bishop-of-nicaragua-urgently-appeals-to-rights-organization-regarding-unjust-incarceration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/16\/bishop-of-nicaragua-urgently-appeals-to-rights-organization-regarding-unjust-incarceration\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop of Nicaragua Urgently Appeals to Rights Organization Regarding Unjust Incarceration"},"content":{"rendered":"


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‘Those concerned with basic human rights should be outraged by the crisis endured by people of faith in Nicaragua’<\/h2>\n
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Nicaraguan Catholic bishop Rolando Alvarez prays at the Santo Cristo de Esquipulas church in Managua, on May 20, 2022. – Alvarez, a strong critic of Daniel Ortega’s government, started on Thursday a hunger strike in protest against what he considers a persecution and police siege against him. <\/span> | STR\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Nicaraguan bishop has turned to an international human rights commission after being unjustly convicted and imprisoned by his country\u2019s government under the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega.<\/p>\n

Bishop Rolando \u00c1lvarez of the Catholic Diocese of Matagalpa was convicted of \u201cundermining national integrity\u201d following a highly irregular trial, human rights group ADF International said in a statement<\/a>, adding that he had been preaching on themes of human dignity and justice, denouncing the Nicaraguan government\u2019s human rights violations against the Catholic Church and its followers.<\/p>\n

The bishop was initially barred from celebrating Mass and later arrested and imprisoned without explanation. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison after a trial he was unaware of, said ADF International, which has filed a petition on his behalf with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. There are no effective legal avenues in Nicaragua, the group said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose concerned with basic human rights should be outraged by the crisis endured by people of faith in Nicaragua,\u201d said Kristina Hjelkrem, legal counsel for ADF International in Latin America. \u201cThis is a clear violation of not only his human right to freedom of expression, but also to profess his faith and share his beliefs as a pastor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state of religious persecution in the country is worsening, evidenced by the recent arrest of a priest who prayed for Bishop \u00c1lvarez earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The bishop\u2019s persecution began on Aug. 4, 2022, when he was prevented from leaving his residence to celebrate Mass. He was forcibly detained for 15 days along with seminarians, priests and a cameraman. On Aug. 19 last year, police arrested Bishop \u00c1lvarez and seven other church members without a warrant. He was then placed under house arrest.<\/p>\n

Nicaraguan authorities later charged the bishop with \u201cundermining national integrity\u201d and \u201cpropagation of false news.\u201d He was also found guilty of \u201caggravated obstruction of functions\u201d and \u201cdisobedience of contempt for authority.\u201d The charges were based on sermons he had delivered criticizing the government\u2019s human rights violations.<\/p>\n

\u00c1lvarez was stripped of his nationality and citizenship rights under a problematic law. He was sentenced to 26 years and four months in prison and fined almost $5,000. He has been in prison for seven months, deprived of contact with family or legal representation.<\/p>\n

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Inter-American Court of Human Rights have previously ordered Nicaragua to release the bishop. The government has ignored these orders.<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church in Nicaragua has been targeted by the government since civil unrest erupted in April 2018. Attacks have been made against religious leaders, places of worship and other institutions. The Catholic Church has accused the regime of religious persecution.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis has strongly condemned the persecution of \u00c1lvarez and the Church in Nicaragua. He has invited all parties to engage in open dialogue for peaceful coexistence.<\/p>\n

An\u00a0ideology<\/a>\u00a0in Nicaragua portrays Ortega as being \u201canointed by God \u2026 for sacred Nicaragua.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2018 protests came after about a decade of deteriorating economic conditions in the country. Protesters, mostly students, demanded democratic reforms and that President Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, step down as they allegedly established a dictatorship marked by nepotism and repression.<\/p>\n

During the initial days of the 2018 protests, Ortega requested that the Catholic Church act as a mediator. But his administration also began using brutal force against the protesters and later on Catholic clergy.<\/p>\n

Catholic clergy aided and provided sanctuary to protesters and voiced support for the right to protest peacefully. But as a result, Ortega used his government and supporters to persecute clergy members, worshipers and various Catholic organizations.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people died in the protests in 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Free<\/span> Religious Freedom Updates<\/h2>\n

Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST<\/strong> newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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‘Those concerned with basic human rights should be outraged by the crisis endured by people of faith in Nicaragua’ Nicaraguan Catholic bishop Rolando Alvarez prays at the Santo Cristo de Esquipulas church in Managua, on May 20, 2022. – Alvarez, a strong critic of Daniel Ortega’s government, started on Thursday a hunger strike in protest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}