Mozambique: Religious leader detained in Nampula province for forbidding worshipers to use public services – Lusa report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Religious leader detained in Nampula province for forbidding worshipers to use public services – Lusa report

4:32 CAT | 27 Oct 2022

File photo: RM

A religious leader and two followers have been detained by the police in Nampula province, in the north of the country, for inciting believers not to use public services, the corporation told Lusa on Wednesday.

The police spokesman in Nampula, Zacarias Nacute, said that the religious leader and his followers encouraged the sect’s believers not to seek medical care, go to school or attend at public offices.

“According to the reports that reached the police, they [the leaders and followers] do not recognize the government, and say that they leave everything in the hands of Jesus,” Nacute said.

The sect, called “Refuge in Jesus”, is based in the district of Rapale, he added.

The spokesman said the police first took those involved to a local police station for questioning, but they were then arrested for causing “confusion”.

Zacarias Nacute added that the police authorities had sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office documents citing the crime of public disobedience by the religious leader and his followers.

In Mozambique, there are increasingly frequent reports of sects which prohibit their faithful from having contact with state authorities and public services, including vaccination campaigns.

Source: Lusa