AI: SUDANESE OPPOSITION ACTIVIST RELEASED
Amnesty International
Date: 31 August 2012
SUDANESE OPPOSITION ACTIVIST RELEASED
Activist Alawiya Osman Ismail Kibaida was released on 28 July, after being detained for over three months without charge. She is believed to have been held in poor conditions.
On 21 April 2012, Alawiya Osman Ismail Kibaida, a 58-year old activist and member of the opposition group Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N), was taken from her home by plainclothes agents believed to be members of the National Security Service (NSS). They took her to an undisclosed location and did not provide her family with any reason for the arrest. On 24 April, her husband went to offices of the NSS, where he received confirmation that Alawiya Osman Ismail Kibaida was being held in their custody. However the NSS refused to disclose her location and continued to deny her access to a lawyer or her family. She was subsequently transferred to a prison in Omdurman until her release without charge on 28 July. Amnesty International has reasons to believe that the poor conditions in which she was held have caused her health to deteriorate.
Alawiya Osman Ismail Kibaida is a prominent activist from the SPLM-N. She is the former Health Minister of Sennar state and currently acts as the Secretary for Social Affairs within the SPLM-N. She is originally from Omdurman, and joined the party in 2002. Alawiya Osman Ismail Kibaida’s was detained on the same day as that of other SPLM-N activists.
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