Rights group says Sudan sentenced human rights activist to one year in prison

December 24, 2010 (NAIROBI) – A prominent human rights activist in Sudan has been unfairly prosecuted and sentenced to one year prison term and a fine, the global human rights watchdog Amnesty International announced on Thursday.

In a call for Urgent Action, Amnesty International said that Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, the human rights defender and former director of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO), was sentenced on Wednesday 22 December by a court in Khartoum to one year prison term and a fine of 3000 Sudanese pounds (1250 US dollars) on the grounds of embezzlement charges of which he was previously acquitted.

According to Amnesty, the original charges were first brought against Mudawi by the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), the official regulator of humanitarian activities in Sudan, following a series of audits in 2008 and 2009 that “did not show any unlawful activities by Mudawi.”

Amnesty recounted that Mudawi, whose organization SUDO was among a group of local and international NGOs expelled or suspended immediately after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for president Al-Bashir in March 2009, was acquitted of the original charges due to lack of evidence.

However, HAC appealed against the court’s ruling and Mudawi was informed that the judges would be reviewing his case in 22 December, said Amnesty.

According to Amnesty, Mudawi appeared before the court in the morning of 22 December in Khartoum and the same judges found him guilty of the original charges despite the fact that no further evidences were tendered to the court.

Immediately after the court handed down the sentence, Mudawi was taken to Kober Prison from which he was transferred on 23 December to Soba prison in the suburbs of the Khartoum, according to Amnesty and Sudan Tribune sources who confirmed the news.

Amnesty said that Mudawi, who won the 2005’s Human Rights First award and Front Line award in relation to his human rights activities in Sudan, was arrested on three previous occasions between 2003 and 2005 in relation to his human rights work.

“He [Mudawi] is a prisoner of conscience, held solely in relation to his human rights work.” Amnesty said.

Earlier this week, Sudanese authorities arrested Abdel-Basit Merghani, the Director of Al-Fanar Center, which is a Khartoum-based human rights advocacy group, for organizing demonstrations against the flogging of women in Sudan.

Also between 30 October and 3 November of this year, Sudanese security services rounded up a group of eleven activists and journalists from Darfur region, accusing them of working for the Netherlands-based Radio Dabanga which Sudan labels as a hostile media organization. Sudan security services further alleged that the detainees are members of Darfur rebel groups and conspiring with the ICC.

Six weeks after the arrest of the eleven, the UN independent human rights envoy to Sudan, Mohammed Chande Othman, on December 17 voiced his concern about their detention, calling on the Sudanese government to release them or bring them to a trial.

(ST)