Sudan: Leading human rights activist re-arrested
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
– AI Index: AFR 54/010/2005
– News Service No: 018
– 24 January 2005
Amnesty International today expressed its serious concern at the arrest of Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, a leading Sudanese human rights activist and Chair of the humanitarian organisation Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO).
Members of Sudan’s National Security and Intelligence Agency arrested Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam and a friend Salah Mohamed Abdelrahman in his family home in Kondua, a village in North Kordofan at 11pm GMT on Sunday 24 January. No reasons were given for their arrest and no one has so far had access to the detainees. They were reportedly brought to the National Security Agency office in the town of Umburua, North Kordofan.
“The two men must be given immediate access to their relatives, lawyers and any medical assistance they may need. Incommunicado detentions have provided the context for numerous acts of torture by the Sudanese National Security Agency” said Amnesty International’s Africa program Director Kolawole Olaniyan.
Amnesty International is worried about the continued harassment of SUDO staff members and human rights activists in general in Sudan.
Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam had already been detained previously. He was arrested on 28 December 2003 by the National Security Agency upon return from Darfur, where SUDO provides humanitarian aid to displaced civilians. He was later charged with “crimes against the state” and the evidence against him included Amnesty International public documents found in his possession. Amnesty International adopted him as a prisoner of conscience. All charges against him were dropped in August 2004.
On 10 September 2004, Adib Abdel Rahman Yusuf, the head of the SUDO office in Zalingei, West Darfur State, was arrested in the capital, Khartoum by National Security and Intelligence Agency officers. He has since been held incommunicado, without charge, at the political section of the National Security and Intelligence Agency offices in Khartoum. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful pursuit of his lawful occupation.