Sudan Military Intelligence detains prominent doctors’ union leader

August 31, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese Military Intelligence has detained Dr Attiya Abdallah, the head of the country’s main doctors’ union, while he was conducting infectious disease fieldwork in the east of the country, the union said on Monday.

Dr Attiya, general secretary of the Preliminary Committee of the Sudan Doctors’ Trade Union and head of an initiative combating visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-azar), was arrested in early August in Gedaref state and subsequently transferred to the capital, Khartoum, union spokesperson Sayed Mohamed Abdallah told Sudan Tribune.

Military authorities have not disclosed the charges or reasons for his detention.

The union and allied syndicates have launched a campaign demanding his release and called on international organisations to intervene, warning that state security forces bear full responsibility for his safety.

Medical and humanitarian professionals have increasingly faced arbitrary arrests and harassment from both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the conflict began in April 2023.