AFR 54/035/2007
Further Information on UA 156/07 (AFR 54/032/2007, 19 June 2007)
Incommunicado detention/fear of torture or ill-treatment
SUDAN : Alfatih Abdallah (m), journalist, Al Sudani daily newspaper
Ghazafi Adulmotalib (m), journalist, Al Ayam daily newspaper
Alam Eldin Abdelgaum, (m) lawyer
Dr Mohamed Jalal Ahmed Hashim (m), Lecturer at Khartoum University
Raafat Hassan Abbas (m), freelance journalist
An unknown number of others
New names : Abdelhalim Abdulghani (m), lawyer
Abdulaziz Mohamed Ali Khairi (m), engineer and community representative
Abdallah Abdelgaum (m), member of the Mahas community
Osman Shamat (m), driver
Saad Mohamed Ahmed (m), journalist
22 June 2007
Four of the people arrested on 13 June have been released without charge, but another five, named above, are now known to have been arrested that day. All are held incommunicado, reportedly in Kober prison, in the capital, Khartoum.
Alfatih Abdallah, Ghazafi Abdulmotalib, Abuobaida Awad and Abualgasim Farahana were released from Kober prison early in the morning of 20 June.
Most of the detainees are held in the political section of Kober prison. The whereabouts of Dr Mohamed Jalal Ahmed Hashim and Raafat Hassan Abbas are unknown, and they are at grave risk of torture.
Most of the journalists and lawyers were arrested at around 11pm on 13 June in the city of Dongola, capital of Northern State. They had travelled together from Khartoum, to investigate the violence and arrests which had followed protests earlier that day against the plans for the Kajbar Dam on the Nile, in the populated Mahas region.
Several members and associates of The Committee Against the Building of Kajbar Dam, a group campaigning on behalf of the communities which will be affected by the dam, were also arrested in Khartoum.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Article 31 of the 1999 National Security Forces Act gives the security forces the power to detain people for up to nine months without access to judicial review. All those detained over the protests against the Kajbar Dam are likely to be held under this legislation.
RECOMMENDED ACTION : Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Arabic, English or your own language :
expressing concern for the lawyers and journalists detained on the day of protests against the construction of the Kajbar Dam ;
- urging the authorities to give them immediate and regular access to their families, lawyers, and any medical treatment they may require ;
urging the authorities to charge the men with recognisably criminal offences, or else release them immediately ;
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 :
Prof. Al-Zubair Bashir Taha
Minister of Internal Affairs
Ministry of Interior, PO Box 281, Khartoum,
Sudan
Fax : + 249 183 774339
+ 249 183 776554 (Please mark, « FAO Minister of Internal Affairs »)
Mr Muhammad Ali al-Maradhi
Minister of Justice and Attorney General
Ministry of Justice
PO Box 302, Khartoum,
Sudan
Fax : + 249 183 780796 (Please mark, « FAO Minister of Justice »)
Email : info sudanjudiciary.org
Salutation : Dear Minister
COPIES TO :
Dr Abdel Moneim Osman Taha
Rapporteur, Advisory Council for Human Rights
Khartoum,
Sudan
Email : human_rights_sudan hotmail.com
Human Rights Committee
The Peoples Hall
Omdurman,
Sudan
Fax : +249 187 560950
E-mail : info sudan-parliament.org
Ambassade de la République du Soudan
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 124
1050 Bruxelles
Fax : 02.648.34.99
Email : sudanbx yahoo.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 3 August 2007.
Les Actions Urgentes par SMS, faites de votre téléphone portable une arme de libération massive : envoyez le code AU au 3313 (1 € le SMS).
