Port Sudan prison conditions ‘catastrophic,’ trials delayed, lawyer says
May 17, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Detainees in eastern Sudan’s Port Sudan prison face “catastrophic conditions” and prolonged trials, a lawyer from the Emergency Lawyers advocacy group said on Saturday.
Port Sudan has become Sudan’s administrative capital, with most state institutions, including the public prosecution and judiciary, relocating there since the country’s conflict began more than two years ago.
Some 1,600 prisoners are living in poor conditions that worsened after nearby military sites were targeted, Rehab Mubarak, a member of the group’s executive office, said in a statement seen by Sudan Tribune. This had raised prisoner fears about the city’s safety, she added.
The prison situation is “catastrophic,” lacking basic safety and justice standards, Mubarak said.
She criticised lengthy pre-trial detention periods, with indictment hearings allegedly postponed because members of a “security cell” are busy with fieldwork and unable to attend court. The security cell, comprising army, intelligence, and police personnel with arrest and search powers, often files claims against those it detains, making its members complainants whose testimony is sought by courts, Mubarak said.
While Sudanese law permits up to six months’ detention for investigation before referral to court, some defendants in Port Sudan have been held for up to 18 months without trial, she said.
Mubarak complained that trial sessions are sometimes 40 days apart, contravening fair trial norms requiring swift proceedings. She also explained that some convicts wait months for appeal decisions, even when appeals are filed within the required 15 days of a verdict.
There are 250 inmates on death row in the prison, including 75 classified as “Grade (A)” for alleged cooperation with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Articles 50 and 51 of Sudan’s Criminal Law, Mubarak said.
These individuals include teachers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, and students, whom she described as well-behaved with no criminal traits, alleging their accusations were unjust and arrests politicised.
“Some were sentenced because of phone messages in which they expressed their opinions rejecting the war, or due to tribal and regional motives,” she added.
Mubarak revealed that the prison’s water desalination plant has stopped working. Saline water is mixed with desalinated water brought from outside, then cooled to prevent its saltiness from being noticeable, she said.
Port Sudan faces a clean drinking water crisis, with residents relying on desalinated or bottled water, as a project to supply Nile River water to the city continues to falter.