Human rights lawyer urges Sudan to free prisoners

KHARTOUM, Jan 13 (Reuters) – A top Sudanese human rights lawyer urged the Khartoum government on Tuesday to release or charge political prisoners detained for suspected links to a revolt in the western Darfur region of Sudan.

Sudanese authorities allowed Ghazi Suleiman, who is also a leading critic of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, to visit 19 political detainees in the capital’s main prison on Monday.

“The detainees are being held in good conditions but they have not been investigated at all. They don’t know why they have been detained,” Suleiman told Reuters on Tuesday.

“I asked the security to release them immediately or take them to court,” he added.

He said officials told him the prisoners were detained for involvement in “incidents in Darfur” but gave no more details.

Two rebel groups launched a revolt in February in Darfur, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the poor area. Peace talks with one group broke down last month and fighting has intensified with analysts warning a full-blown civil war could develop.

Suleiman said some of the detainees were former ministers, university lecturers and members of the opposition Popular National Congress (PNC) headed by Islamic ideologue and Bashir’s former ally Hassan al-Turabi.

Turabi was detained in 2001 for crimes against the state following a power struggle with Bashir. He was freed in October.

The PNC said last month 25 of its members had been arrested. Security forces declined comment on the arrests.

Suleiman said Sudanese law states suspects can only be held for 72 hours. “After that they are either charged or released. Some of these detainees have been held for one month without questioning”.

Sudan is holding peace talks in Kenya with a separate rebel group to end two decades of civil war in the south of Africa’s largest country. The two sides signed a key wealth-sharing deal last week and hope to seal a final agreement early this year.