The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has issued a fresh call to the Nicaraguan dictatorship, urging them to promptly disclose the location of Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, who has been a victim of forced disappearance for 16 days.

The OHCHR emphasized the critical need for the government to reveal Bishop Mora's whereabouts, highlighting the grave risks to his life and personal safety caused by the lack of information and isolation from his family and legal representatives.

Reiterating their concerns, the human rights organization reposted its December 28 statement, condemning the forced detention of Bishop Mora and expressing alarm over a new wave of arrests targeting religious figures. The OHCHR underscored that apart from violating personal freedom, such actions also infringe upon the right to religious freedom, a fundamental pillar of any democratic state.

The 63-year-old prelate was apprehended a day after he requested prayers for Bishop Rolando Álvarez during a Mass. Álvarez had been abducted by the Sandinista regime in August 2022, placed under house arrest, and ultimately sentenced to 26 years and four months in prison in February 2023 on charges of treason.

Following Mora's arrest, Nicaraguan researcher Martha Patricia Molina, author of the study "Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?", disclosed that in addition to the bishop, seminarians Alester Saenz and Tony Palacio had also been abducted. Their whereabouts remain unknown, adding to the growing concerns raised by international organizations and human rights advocates.