Sudan’s attorney cancels decision to release prominent right defender

May 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Attorney General has cancelled a decision to release human rights defender Mudawi Ibrahim, who has been detained since last December without charges, his lawyer said on Friday.

Ibrahim, university professor and chair of the non-governmental organisation Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO) was arrested on 7 December 2016 by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

By the end of March 2017, his lawyer Nabil Adib said the court had issued a decision to release his client on bail. But his family at the time expressed concern over the possible intervention of the national security service (NISS) to keep him in detention.

On Friday, Adib told Sudan Tribune that the general attorney has cancelled its decision to release his client.

“I have not seen the reasons for the decision and will try to see the merits on Sunday,” he said.

“(But) I learned that the decision ordered further investigations. It seems that a hidden motivation triggered this measure,” the lawyer added.

For her part, Mudawi’s family considered the decision as more “procrastination” from the Sudanese government to prevent his release.

“This means that they want to continue holding him and prolong his detention,” his wife Sabah Adam told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

A media outlet, close to the ruling National Congress Party, earlier this year claimed that Mudawi is involved on a report released last year by Amnesty International on the use of chemical weapons in Darfur’s Jebel Marra.

However, the NISS seemingly has failed to provide evidence supporting its allegations.

(ST)