Sudan rights watchdog calls for the release of political detainees

The Sudan Human Rights Organization is gravely concerned the security authorities have been arresting political activists by arbitrary arrest and detention in flagrant violation of the Interim Constitution and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The organization calls on the authorities to release immediately all political detainees, especially those detained without charge. The authorities must observe the right of the accused persons to exercise the legal rights of which they should be presumed innocent until proved guilty by a just and fair trial.

In these past weeks, the security departments arrested about 50 activists, claiming that they had involved themselves in a conspiracy to sabotage and destroy the constitution. In addition to Suliman Jamus and other activists unlawfully detained, the most recent arrestees included Ali Mahmoud Hassanain, the deputy chairperson of the Democratic Unionist Party, Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi, president of the Umma reform and renewal party, lieutenant-general Abd al-Galil al-Basah, a former minister of tourism secretary general of the party, lieutenant-general Mohamed Ali Hamid, a former commander of the Sate Security Department, Dr. Mohamed Galal Ahmed Hashim, engineer Hassan Haj Musa, major (retired) Hassan Mahmoud Hassan, and journalist Mujahid Abd-Allah.

The Organization received reliable reports that the detainees have been arrested and detained in violation of the Interim Constitution and the CPA that protect all citizens from arbitrary arrest by the security departments which job is designated only to collect information for the competent authorities of the Attorney-General’s Chamber or the Sudan Police based on recognizable information reports with clear legal charges.

The Organization notes with great concern the violation committed by the security authorities against constitutional provisions, especially Article 29 of the Interim Constitution on the fundamental right to liberty and security of person safety, as well as the non-subjection to arbitrary arrest or detention, in accordance with the law.

The security authorities has seriously violated Article 3 of the Constitution “all are equal before the law without any discrimination to equal protection of the law,” in addition to violating Article 34 on the right of accused persons to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, to be informed promptly of charges, and to enjoy the entitlement to a fair and just trial by a competent judicial power.

The Organization contends the unabated pursuance of these violations by the security authorities represents a dangerous threat to the Nation’s transition to democratic rule, as the security departments continue recklessly to undermine the peace process.

SHRO-Cairo calls insistently on the government to abrogate all laws that restrict the human rights and public freedoms, specifically the National Security Law 1999.

The Organization asks the National Council in Khartoum and Juba to democratize the new version of the security and police act that has been most recently enforced to strengthen the same authoritative grip of the security organs over the citizens’ rights in continuous violation of constitutional stipulations and judicial jurisdiction.