Mr. Mohamed Al Mahgoub was released on April 17, 2009 without charge. He had been arbitrarily arrested on April 11, 2009 by the National Intelligence State Security (NISS) in his house in Al Fashir, and detained incommunicado in the Al Fashir NISS premises, with no access to his lawyers or family.
On March 5, 2009, Mr. Al Mahgoub had been ordered by the NISS not to leave Al Fashir, on the basis of the National Security Forces Act 1999.
His arrest followed the closure at the beginning of March by the Sudanese authorities of the Amel Centre - Al Fashir and Nyala branch and the Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO), two organisations operating in Darfur, as well as of the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights and Environmental Development (KCHRED). The three organisations were working in the provision of support to victims of human rights violations, in particular victims of torture and victims of the ongoing conflict in Darfur.
The crackdown against human rights and humanitarian NGOs and human rights defenders has intensified in Sudan since November 2008 as the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the request issued on July 14, 2008 by the ICC Prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant against President Omar Bashir approached. This warrant was issued on March 4, 2009.
The Observatory welcomes the release of Mr. Mohamed Al Mahgoub and wishes to thank all the persons, organisations, and institutions that intervened on his behalf, but remains concerned about his integrity, as well as with the restrictions placed on his freedom of movement (he cannot leave Al Fashir) and with the measures of surveillance he is subjected to.
Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon Sudanese authorities to:
– guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Mohamed Al Mahgoub and all human rights defenders in Sudan;
– put an end to the restrictions placed on his freedom of movement as well as to the measures of surveillance he is subjected to;
– put an end to any act of harassment against him and all Sudanese human rights defenders, in conformity with the provisions of the 1998 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Sudan.
For further information, please contact:
* FIDH : Gael Grilhot / Karine Appy, + 33 1 43 55 25 18
* OMCT: Delphine Reculeau, +41 22 809 52 42