Lawyer abducted, tortured in Sudan’s Northern state

October 27, 2024 (PORT SUDAN) – A lawyer and human rights defender was abducted and tortured by an unidentified armed group in Sudan’s Northern State, the Sudanese Bar Association said on Sunday.

The victim, Izdihar Jumaa Saeed, was seized on Oct. 24 in Merowe and taken to Ghnoum, north of Karima, where she was beaten and sustained multiple fractures and injuries, the association said in a statement. She was later abandoned in a remote area on the road to Abu Hamad and found by passersby who transported her to a hospital.

The Bar Association condemned the attack as a “dangerous shift” in the nature of crime in the region, highlighting the perpetrators’ disregard for state authority. A legal committee has been formed to pursue legal action.

The Darfur Bar Association also denounced the incident, expressing concern over the increasing threats faced by human rights defenders. Saeed had been providing legal aid to people from Darfur facing arbitrary arrest and had spoken out against abuses they suffered.

Saeed is a former leading member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North and the coordinator of the “Awn Nazih” initiative, which provides aid to people displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

Activists accuse pro-war groups of being involved in the attack against the the lawyer.

Security forces in the Northern State and other areas have imposed tight restrictions on political activists, human rights defenders, and aid workers, with many facing arrest.