PUBLIC
AI Index:
AFR 54/026/2008
23 May 2008
UA 139/08 Fear of torture or ill-treatment/
fear of extrajudicial execution/ fear of enforced disappearance
SUDAN
Adam Abdel Rahman Fadul, (m) student
Mubarak Ahmed Bakhat, (m) student
Ahmed Orshi, (m) student
Abdel Shakour Hashim Derar, (m) aged 35, lawyer, member
of the Darfur Bar association
Al-Ghali Yahya Shegifat, (m) aged 32, journalist, president
of the Association of Darfur journalists
And some 150 others, mostly of Darfuri
origin
Those named above are among scores
of individuals, mainly from Darfur, who have been arrested
in the capital, Khartoum, in the last two weeks. Many
of those arrested are reported to be held incommunicado
in national security detention facilities in the capital
or at unknown locations. All the detainees are at risk
of torture or other ill-treatment, and may even be killed
or subjected to enforced disappearance by the authorities.
On 9 May, police and National Intelligence
and Security Services (NISS) agents in Khartoum began
arresting people whom they accuse of supporting the
armed opposition group, the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM). The JEM has been fighting Sudanese government
forces in Darfur since 2003, and on 10 May 2008 launched
an attack on Khartoum for the first time. Eyewitnesses
claim that the arrests were arbitrary, merely on the
basis of people's Darfuri origin, ethnicity or physical
resemblance, or on suspicion of having provided shelter
to JEM members. Excessive use of force was reported
during many arrests.
Amnesty International has so far received
the names of over 200 individuals, including those named
above, arrested between 9 and 16 May in Khartoum. While
a total of 52 people were released few days after their
arrest, at least 155 individuals are still detained,
apparently without charge. Some are thought to be held
incommunicado in Kober prison and in other NISS detention
facilities in Khartoum, but the whereabouts of many
detainees remains unknown. If they are held in unofficial
places of detention they are at higher risk of torture,
ill-treatment, extrajudicial execution or enforced disappearance.
One man is already reported to have died in NISS custody
on 19 May. The forensic examination conducted after
his body was returned to his family indicated that the
death resulted from heavy internal bleeding caused by
severe injuries on different parts of his body.
At least 26 Darfuris studying at universities
in Khartoum are among those held, as well as two lawyers,
one journalist and at least one human rights activist.
Additionally, five members of the Popular Congress Party
(PCP), a national political opposition party that is
believed to be close to the JEM are detained.
Adam Abdel Rahman Fadul, Mubarak Ahmed
Bakhat and Ahmed Orshi were arrested on 11 May from
their house in the Umbadda area of Omdurman, part of
Khartoum. Their whereabouts remain unknown. Lawyer and
PCP member Abdel Shakour Hashim Derar was arrested at
his office in the early afternoon of 14 May by a group
of plain clothed armed NISS agents. He is being held
incommunicado at an unknown location. The journalist
Al-Ghali Yahya Shegifat was arrested and released on
12 May, but was re-arrested two days later. Neither
his family nor his lawyers have been able to contact
him since then.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The conflict in Darfur started
in 2003, when the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the
JEM, both Darfur-based opposition groups, took up arms
against the Sudanese government in protest at their
perceived marginalisation of the Western state and the
oppression of non-Arab tribes in Darfur. A Darfur Peace
Agreement in 2006 failed to gain support of most of
the SLA and JEM and it was signed only between the Sudanese
government and the SLA faction led by Minni Minnawi.
The JEM has remained outside efforts to broker a peace
deal. On 10 May 2008, the JEM launched a military attack
on the outskirts of Khartoum. The attack marked the
beginning of a new phase of the conflict in Darfur,
with an armed opposition group reaching the edges of
the capital for the first time. Many members of the
JEM were reportedly killed during the attack and scores
were arrested.
Prolonged incommunicado detention
is prohibited by international human rights standards,
such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Sudan. Article 9 of the
ICCPR states that anyone “arrested or detained
on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before
a judge” Although Sudan’s Criminal Procedure
Code contains safeguards against incommunicado detention,
Article 31 of the National Security Forces Act, which
governs arrests by the NISS, allows prolonged incommunicado
detention without charge or trial. Such detention without
access to the outside world and without any outside
inspection increases the likelihood for torture to take
place. Amnesty International has criticised the provisions
under the National Security Forces Act.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive
as quickly as possible, in Arabic, English or your own
language:
- calling on the authorities to reveal the whereabouts
of Adam Abdel Rahman Fadul, Mubarak Ahmed Bakhat,
Ahmed Orshi, Abdel Shakour Hashim Derar and Al-Ghali
Yahya Shegifat, and to account for the whereabouts of
the 150 others in custody;
- calling for them to be charged with a recognizable
criminal offence, or else released immediately;
- urging the authorities to immediately grant all detainees
regular access to family and lawyers and any medical
treatment they may require;
- calling for assurances that all those detained are
being treated humanely, and not tortured or ill-treated;
- urging the Sudanese authorities to investigate all
allegations of ill-treatment, torture and all extra-judicial
executions that have taken place in the aftermath of
the JEM attack.
- urging the authorities to repeal Article 31 of the
National Security Forces Act, which allows detainees
to be held for up to nine months without access to judicial
review
APPEALS TO:
Mr Abdel Basit Sabderat
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice, PO Box 302, Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: +249 183 770883
Salutation: Dear Minister
Ibrahim Mohamed Hamed
Federal Ministry of the Interior
PO Box 2793, Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: +249 1 8377 6554
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Dr Abdel Moneim Osman Taha
Rapporteur, Advisory Council for Human Rights, Khartoum,
Sudan
Email: human_rights_sudan@hotmail.com
Dr Priscilla Joseph
Chair of the Human Rights Committee,
National Assembly, Omdurman, Sudan
Fax: +249 187 560 950
and to diplomatic representatives
of Sudan accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International
Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals
after 4 July 2008.
Picture Culled from Darfur Alert Coalition.
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