Opposition figure hails release of detainees in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Aug 5, 2003 (dpa) — The freeing of 32 opposition figures detained on political grounds by Sudanese government security authorities was described a positive step by a leading Sudanese opposition figure on Tuesday.

Ghazi Suleiman, a lawyer and chairman of the Sudanese Human Rights Group (SHRG) welcomed the recent release the political detainees who were held without trial, and urged the government to release more political prisoners including the Islamist leader Hassan Abdalla Turabi arrested in 2001.

Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum, Suleiman said the government move paved “the way for forthcoming democratic changes”, but was incomplete unless amendments were made to constitutional articles that he said restricted individual freedoms.

Amnesty International in its monthly report on Sudan cited as still common “incommunicado detention of political opponents, students and ordinary citizens as well as torture by the security forces”.