The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Sudan.
Brief description of the situation:
According to the information received, on March 12, 2014 at around 11 p.m., Mr. Al-Sanhouri was arrested during an armed raid at his family home located in the Al-Taeif neighbourhood of Khartoum. NISS officers bearing weapons searched his home without showing a warrant and refused to inform his family of the reasons for the arrest or about his place of detention. His location remained unknown as of issuing this Urgent Appeal.
Similarly, on March 13, 2014 at around 3 p.m., Mr. Abdulmonim Adam was arrested by the NISS from his office in the Souq al-Arabi neighbourhood of Khartoum. He remains currently detained within the NISS offices in Khartoum Bahri with no access to his lawyer and family members.
Messrs. Al-Sanhouri and Abdulmonim Adam are thought to have been arrested in connection with a demonstration organised at the University of Khartoum on March 11, 2014 to denounce the human rights situation in Darfur, which was harshly repressed by the authorities. The demonstration followed a public forum organised on the same day by the Darfur Students Association at the University of Khartoum to denounce the escalating violence and increased insecurity in South Darfur. At the end of the forum, the students peacefully marched to the main university gates, where NISS agents, police and student militias fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition at them, killing one student and seriously injuring seven others.
Mr. Al-Sanhouri criticised the response of the authorities against the demonstrators. He had also been very recently released from NISS detention after being held without charge for two months between December 15, 2013 and February 8, 2014, for having reported on the deteriorating human rights situation in South Kordofan. Mr. Abdulmonim Adam offered legal aid to the students detained in connection with the March-11 demonstration.
The Observatory is deeply concerned by the incommunicado detention of Messrs. Gazi Alrayah Al-Sanhouri, and Abdulmonim Adam and fears for their physical and psychological integrity, particularly in the current context of widespread resort to acts of torture and ill-treatment in NISS detention centres in Sudan.
Actions requested:
The Observatory urges the authorities of Sudan to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Gazi Alrayah Al-Sanhouri and Abdulmonim Adam, as well as of all human rights defenders in Sudan;
ii. Immediately disclose the whereabouts of Mr. Gazi Alrayah Al-Sanhouri and release him as well as Mr. Abdulmonim Adam immediately and unconditionally as their detention is arbitrary since it only aims at sanctioning their human rights activities;
iii. Immediately grant Messrs. Gazi Alrayah Al-Sanhouri and Abdulmonim Adam access to their families and lawyers;
iv. Put an end to any kind of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Messrs. Gazi Alrayah Al-Sanhouri and Abdulmonim Adam, as well as of all human rights defenders in Sudan, and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their activities without hindrances;
v. Conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, and its article 12.2 which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
vi. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Sudan.
Addresses:
· Mr. President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, Office of the President, People’s Palace, PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: + 249 183 783223
· Mr. Mohammed Boushara Dossa, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, PO Box 302, Khartoum, Sudan; Fax: 249 183 764 168 / +249 183 770 883; Email: moj@moj.gov.sd
· Mr. Ali Ahmed Karti, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs/External Relations, PO Box 873, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: 249183772941
· Mr. Ibrahim Mahmoud Ahmed, Minister of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Interior, PO Box 873, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: +249 183 779383 / +249 183 776 554; Email: ministry@mfa.gov.sd
· Advisory Council for Human Rights, Rapporteur, PO Box 302, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: +249 183 77 08 83
· H.E. Ms. Rahma Salih Elobied, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Sudan to the United Nations in Geneva, Avenue Blanc 51-53 (3rd Floor), 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 731 26 56 / +41 22 716 19 70, Email: mission.sudan@bluewin.ch
· Embassy of Sudan in Brussels, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 124, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. Fax: 0032 (2) 648 34 99, Email: sudanbx@yahoo.com
Please also write to diplomatic representations of Sudan in your respective countries.
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Paris-Geneva, March 18, 2014
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.