US pastor whose radio station described women as evil arrested over illegal meeting

Pastor Gregg Schoof was arrested by Rwandan authorities.

An American pastor whose Rwandan radio station was shut down for airing a sermon that described women as ‘evil creatures’ has been arrested.

Gregg Schoof was apprehended detained by Rwandan authorities for holding an "illegal meeting with journalists.”

Schoof had emailed Rwandan journalists on Sunday inviting them to a news conference that he wanted to host before leaving the country, claiming his Visa had expired.

“Pastor Gregg Schoof will have a final press conference to update all about the radio being closed, court cases, and other things,” read part of the email.

According to BBC, Schoof had booked a venue for his press conference on Monday but the owners denied him access at the last minute.

He then opted to address the journalists outside the building and that’s when the police arrested him.

"We arrested Schoof and handed him over to the Rwanda Investigative Bureau," police spokesman John Bosco Kabera told AFP news agency.

"He was arrested for holding an illegal meeting with journalists in a public space. It is illegal to hold meetings in public spaces without authorization," he added.

The controversial pastor has been at loggerheads with the Rwandan Government after his radio station, the Amazing Grace was closed in 2018 following outcry from women’s rights activists who claimed the evangelist had “spread hate against women”.

Schoof was accused of promoting division in the country after his radio station broadcasted that women were "dangerous creatures of evil ".

He petitioned the government's media regulator to re-open his radio station, but lost the appeal in May.

The Evangelist’s church was also among the hundreds that were closed early this year for what the authorities termed as a failure by the owners to comply with the building regulations and noise pollution.