By Hou Akot Hou
A resident of Turalei Payam in Twic County, Warrap State, has been sentenced to six months in prison over a domestic dispute linked to religious differences within her family.
According to local authorities who spoke to the media, the 25-year-old woman allegedly resisted repeated demands from her husband to stop attending the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the area.
The disagreement reportedly escalated and was later taken to the county court.
After hearing arguments from both parties, the court sentenced the woman to six months’ imprisonment.
Speaking to the media, Twic County Paramount Chiefs Court representative Mayom Riing said the woman had ignored her husband’s requests to abandon the church and was accused of giving away household property and assets to church members as offerings.
Riing stated that the court, presided over by county paramount chiefs, decided to imprison the woman in an attempt to “change her heart” and encourage her to comply with cultural expectations regarding obedience to her husband.
“The local county paramount chiefs’ court has decided to sentence this woman to six months in prison to allow her to reconsider her position over the beliefs of the SDA doctrines,” he said.
He added that community leaders and family members from both sides had attempted to mediate the dispute without success.
“The chiefs tried all means to call both parents of the woman and the man, but the woman resisted them, so they decided to pass the verdict of six months in jail,” he noted.
Riing further alleged that the woman had been selling household property and donating the proceeds to the church, which reportedly angered her husband and prompted him to seek legal action.
Residents in Twic County have reportedly had long-standing tensions with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
In previous incidents, some church members were allegedly beaten for praying at a site the community had not officially allocated to them.
The situation resembles earlier tensions in Gogrial East County, where former Member of Parliament Salva Mathok was accused of ordering the burning of an SDA church amid disputes over church doctrines that some local communities considered incompatible with traditional beliefs.