Sudanese groups call to halt crackdown on rights activists
July 5, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Confederation of Sudanese Civil Society Organizations (CSCSOs) has urged the security apparatuses to stop arbitrary arrests of activists.
The confederation expressed grave concern over the continued arbitrary detention of activists Khalaf Allah al-Afif, Mustafa Adam and Midhat al-Afif for almost two months without any legal ground.
On May 22, eight activists from the Centre for Training and Human Development (Tracks) have been arrested after they were summoned to the Office of the Prosecutor for Crimes against the State following charges filed against them by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).
Five of the activists were later released while three of them are still in detention.
The CSCSOs has accused the authorities of violating the law when NISS decided to keep the detainees in jail for more than two weeks without any charges or prosecution. It pointed that NISS has stormed several homes of the relatives of Tracks executive director Khalaf Allah al-Afif and seized books, documents and money.
The state’s security prosecution office transferred, last May, the case of Tracks’sstaff members to the court after charging them with counts that could lead to the death sentence and life imprisonment. They have also been accused of undermining the constitutional order, provoking war against the state, criminal complicity, instigating an insurgency against the regime, and disseminating false news.
“The detained activists were not able to enjoy their legal rights as their lawyers are still not able to know the reasons of their detention”. They have not been accused of specific charges yet. Their health and social conditions have not been taken into account, a matter which is considered as a flagrant violation of the constitution, and the international conventions Sudan has signed”, said the CSCSOs.
The CSCSOs lauded the stance of some political forces that denounced the continued detention of Tracks and Al-Zarqa Rural Development Organization staff members, demanding the authorities to either release the detainees or prosecute them.
The CSCSOs has also urged all its members of civil society groups, and human rights activists and defenders to strongly speak out against the brutal violations being committed against the members of the two organizations, and to coordinate for a campaign to protect their rights and freedoms and ensure their safety.
Since three years ago, NISS has intensified its crackdown on cultural and human rights centres and ordered the closure of most of them. The civil society groups are accused of being funded, and collaborating with foreign circles to reflect negative image about human rights situation in Sudan.
(ST)