Human right groups call for release of activist arrested in Sudan
November 25, 2008 (PARIS) — Two rights watchdogs today called for the release of a human right activists who was detained this week along with two others who were subsequently released.
On Monday the Sudanese authorities detained three human right activists and interrogated them on their links with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Those arrested by Sudan’s National Security and Intelligence Service include Osman Hummida, Moniem El-Gak and Amir Suleiman.
El-Gak and Suleiman were subsequently released but Hummida remains in the custody of the security bureau and his whereabouts are unknown.
“The Sudanese government is well-known for having little tolerance for criticism,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “This is part of a wider pattern of trying to silence those who support justice and to suppress information about the human rights situation in Sudan.”
Amnesty International (AI) expressed concern for the health conditions of Hummida.
“Osman Hummida suffers from high blood pressure and asthma. Amnesty International fears for his health as reports received indicate that although he has been given access to his medicine, he has not been given access to a doctor while in detention” the UK based rights group said in a statement.
Hummida was one of the founders of Sudanese Organization against Torture (SOAT). He and El-Gak work as consultants to civil society and nongovernmental organizations. Suleiman is chairman of the Khartoum Center for Human Rights and Environmental Development (KCHRED).
No charges have been formally brought against any of the three figures. The Sudanese authorities did not comment on the incident.
HRW accused Khartoum of stepping up harassment of human right activists and NGO’s following Darfur rebel attack on the capital last May and ICC indictment of president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.
No views in support of the ICC have been allowed inside Sudan and press censorship was tightened.
(ST)