Rights abuses in Sudan unabated, report shows
May 13, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Various forms of human rights violations and conflict-concomitant abuses continue to be rife in large parts of Sudan, an international report indicated on Friday.
“Human rights violations, mainly by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), continued to be committed with impunity,” AI said.
The global human rights advocator singled out the case of Adil Ibraim Karar, a 56-year-old activist who remains detained by the NISS despite the release of over 70 other activists who attempted to stage anti-government protests earlier this year, as deserving of urgent action.
AI said that Karar was snatched on 31 January on suspicion of intending to take part in anti-government demonstrations.
“He has not been charged with any recognizable criminal offence and is being held by the NISS in an unknown location in Khartoum,” AI said.
According to AI, Adil Karar “suffers from asthma and back problems,” adding that he has reportedly been “refused medical treatment and access to pain medication. He is at risk of torture or other forms of ill-treatment.”
Sudan broke up few anti-government demonstrations since the start of this year as public dissent grew over worsening economic conditions and lack of political reforms. Police forces supported by NISS agents used excessive force against protestors and arrested dozens who were reportedly subjected to torture.
“Perceived critics of the government were arrested, tortured or ill-treated and prosecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly,” AI noted.
AI also said that “hundreds of thousands of civilians continued to suffer the effects of armed conflict and restricted access to humanitarian aid.”
“In Darfur,” AI said, “the conflict escalated and included attacks on villages which resulted in thousands of newly displaced people. Sexual violence against women remained rife in and around camps for the internally displaced. Abductions and attacks on humanitarian convoys also increased.”
Sudan’s westernmost region of Darfur emerged from obscurity in 2003, after an armed conflict erupted between rebels belonging mostly to African ethnicities and the central government in Khartoum.
A harsh counterinsurgency campaign by the Sudanese government is blamed for the death of 300, 000 people and displacement of 2.7 million, according to UN figures.
AI noted that Sudan has continued to apply the death penalty, “including against juveniles.”
It also said that women, young girls and men were arrested and flogged in the north because of their “dress” or “behavior” in public places.
As the world marked international women day in March this year, Sudanese security forces arrested and beat dozes of female activists as they attempted to stage a protest against right abuses and alleged rape of a female activist by NISS agents.
(ST)