Mozambique (MNN) — Ryan Koher, an American missionary pilot in Mozambique, has been provisionally released after four months in prison.
It’s an update many people were praying over and waiting for!
Koher is a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (known in Mozambique as Ambassador Aviation) and was wrongfully detained in November with two South African men while preparing to transport orphanage supplies. He is under investigation for “supporting terrorism.”
The case isn’t closed yet, but Koher was let out of prison in early March.
MAF’s CEO David Holsten says, “It was a provisional release…. He doesn’t have possession of his passport, he’s not allowed to leave the country, and the investigation process is still proceeding. So he’s out, but it’s not completely resolved.”
Ryan Koher (Photo courtesy of MAF, used with permission from the Koher family.)
Koher is back on MAF’s Mozambique base with his wife and two young sons while they wait for a final decision on his case.
Details have been slow coming out because, as Holsten explains, “We have strategically and intentionally not said a lot about it because we didn’t want to do anything that could compromise his being released.”
MAF’s legal team is engaged with Mozambique’s Ministry of Justice and hopes the investigation will conclude within a month or two.
Holsten asks, “We want to certainly pray for the interaction that we’re having with the government to secure his full release [and] that he’d be cleared of any charges.”
Please keep praying for Koher’s full acquittal.
Holsten was able to connect with Koher on the phone after he was released. Holsten shares, “For the many people that had upheld him in their prayers — which would be a number of the listeners of this program — he’s aware of the Body of Christ really seeking to support he and his family. So he was just thankful…. I was very impressed and humbled by that, to see how he responded to it. It was not a sense of anger or questioning, though those sorts of emotions would be very understandable. He was really very gracious and full of gratitude.”
If and when Koher’s case is dropped and he is cleared to travel, MAF plans to bring Koher and his family back to the US for a time of furlough.
Ryan was in the Ambassador Aviation hangar, which is near the main airport terminal, when his family arrived for a private welcome. The photo was taken in the hangar shortly afterwards. (Caption, photo courtesy of MAF)
“In the meantime,” Holsten says, “he has no work responsibilities that he needs to engage in. It’s really just spending time together as a family. He’s not flying or going to the hangar and doing maintenance or anything like that. We just want to give them ample space to be together as a family.”
If you would like to help MAF with the unexpected legal fees and expenses related to Koher’s case, you can contact MAF here.
Header photo taken in September at Nairuko, Mozambique. Featuring Ryan Koher, Annabel Koher, and their two boys. (Photo courtesy of MAF, used with permission from the Koher family.)
