New police service raises concerns about restrictions of freedoms in Sudan

August 20, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Brigadier Abdallah Bashir Al-Badri, a police spokesman, last week confirmed that the Ministry of Interior and the Police General Directorate issued a decision establishing the Community Police Service on August 10.

Reached by the Sudan Tribune, the police spokesman declined to clarify his statements and answer questions about how and why, and what they call “Community Police Service” was activated for. Also, he turned down questions about the tasks of this new department

Having in mind the oppressive practices of the Public Order Police of the former regime, Sudanese commentators and activists said on social media that this community police service would restrict individual liberties, and be a threat to public freedoms. Also, people questioned the legal basis of this new law as the country is ruled by a military junta for more than nine months.

Speaking to the Blue Nile TV channel on August 17, the police spokesman sought to reassure about the activities of this new police service saying it has nothing to do with the former service that particularly targeted women and youth.

“Whether a law was issued or not, our religious upbringing and customs do not permit scandalous clothing and dishonest behaviour,” he said. He added that one of the tasks of this community police force is “organising lectures, sports, and cultural programmes; concluding reconciliations; and gathering information from community members about illegal activities.”

The transitional authorities, in November 2019, abolished the public order law enacted in 1996 during the rule of the ousted president, Omer al-Bashir. The law consists of 25 articles, which define the controls and rules related to public conduct at events, markets, etc. and give police officers broad arrest powers. The repressive law targets women, in particular, seeks to impose Islamic public morals and punishes violators with flogging. Amnesty International at the time stated that the repeal of the public order law was a big step in the right direction for women’s rights in Sudan.

Legal Counsel Hajo Taj al-Din al-Nagi told the Sudan Tribune: “I do not believe that what was done regarding activating the ‘community–police’ represents a return to the public order police, as the fall of the June 30 regime resulted in the devolution of legislative authority under the constitutional declaration to the Sovereign Council and the Council of Ministers (jointly). Neither of the two bodies has the right to unilaterally legislate. Together, the two councils have the right to enact, repeal or amend laws. According to this constitutional declaration, a number of laws and some articles of laws have already been repealed, including the Public Order Law.”

Al-Nagi added, “After the coup on October 25, there was a constitutional vacuum, and the Sovereign Council no longer has the authority to annul, amend, enact, or reinstate a repealed law.”  Any action of the Sovereign Council in this regard is void. According to the legal principle, what is built on falsehood is false. If the Sovereign Council wishes to enact, repeal, amend, or reinstate a law that has been annulled, it has only two options: return to the situation before the twenty-fifth coup (restoring the civilian-led government) and invoke the texts of the constitutional document in full and undiminished. The second option: holding early elections to ensure the formation of a Legislative Council with legislative authority.

Lawyers in Sudan warned of the return of the public order police under a new name. They consider the decision of the Ministry of Interior to activate the community police as the beginning of the restriction on freedoms and the continuation of human rights violations.

Montaser Abdallah, a prominent member of the Emergency Lawyers Group, told the Sudan Tribune, “The community police is a measure to impose additional restrictions on freedoms because the articles on morality have not been repealed from the Sudanese Penal Code and do not need a specialized department to implement them.”

In the same trend,  Attiyat Mustafa, a women’s rights activist and former Director General of the Unit for Combating Violence against Women told the Sudan Tribune, that the Pubic Order must be understood as a law specific to Khartoum State and not other states and is a non-binding procedural act.

“Before its repeal, we continued to raise objections to the procedures and methods of the law enforcement agents. Their methods were often unacceptable even by the standards and teachings of religion that forbid defamation and intrusion into the privacy of others,” Mustafa stressed.

However, the women’s rights worker underscored that the community police, which exists in many parts of the world, can have a major role in society when they are properly established and law is issued regulating their activities by authorised national legislative institutions.

She said community police legislation should not be entrusted to the states to avoid the shortcomings of the previous experience.

During the former regime, the personnel of the Public Order Police were not properly trained and sometimes included suspicious individuals who were not fit for such a service, the activist said.

“The community police should be formed on a sound basis in a way to correct the past mistakes. The police should not talk about girls’ clothing. This is not their business. If this is done they can contribute to providing great services to the community such as health, education, security, feeding and so on.”

In response to growing concerns after the police spokesman’s comments, the police press office on Thursday issued a statement saying there is no relation between the new police service and the previous one.

“The community police has nothing to do with public order and is not an executive tool. Rather it is a support for developing the police’s relationship with the community, an experience governed by international standards.”

The police press office said that the new police service aims to involve “the community to address certain issues in ways that differ from seizure and punishment.”

“The questions and answers that were asked at the talk show on the Blue Nile TV channel were out of context,” the statement concluded.