African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS | المركز الافريقي لدراسات العدالة و السلام
(27 September 2021) African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) expresses its utmost concern over the physical safety and wellbeing of Mr Otaf Abdelwahab Altom, journalist and director of Al-Naba Center for Press Services who was arrested by the police force from his home and taken to Al-Mugran Police Station in Khartoum on 22 September 2021. We call on Sudanese authorities to guarantee his physical and psychological integrity, and ensure a fair trial according to the regional and international standards including access to lawyer and family visit.
Mr Otaf was arrested and charged under articles 50 (Undermining the Constitutional system) and 51 (Waging war against the state) of the Criminal Code 1991. Both crimes carry a penalty of death or life imprisonment. Reliable information indicates that his arrest is solely based on suspicion of “coordinating” with members of the ousted National Congress party to undermine the Constitutional order in the country. His family has not been able to visit him and they do not know where he is being detained.
The lack of access for family members to the detainee, together with the well-documented use torture and other forms of ill-treatment against detainees by Sudanese security agencies and the police force, particularly whilst held in unknown locations, gives rise to serious concerns for his safety. Incommunicado detention significantly enhances vulnerability to torture and other ill-treatment. This practice is in breach of Sudan’s obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in particular the prohibition under Article 5 of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment.
The charges against Mr otaf is the latest development in a growing list of prosecutions of Journalists and human rights defenders in Sudan. Sudanese authorities are using sweeping criminal provisions that carry heavy penalties to harass and intimidate activists including journalists from conducting their work. On 15 September 2021, ACJPS documented the arrest of journalist Ms. Aisha Al-Majidi after the Rapid Support Forces and the Committee for the Removal of Empowerment of the Previous Regime filed two separate cases of defamation against her under article 159 of the Sudanese Penal Code, 1991 based on an article she published on her Facebook account calling on the authorities to merge the Rapid Support Forces with the Sudanese Armed Force. She was released on 16 September but the case is still pending before the public prosecution.
The International Federation of Journalists has reported that for the past two years, security forces have closed down newspapers, TVs, and radio stations, arrested journalists, and dismissed 79 journalists from their jobs at the state-owned media without paying them their end-of-service compensations.
ACJPS calls on Sudanese authorities to guarantee the safety and well-being of Mr Otaf Abdelwahab Altom and grant him immediate and unequivocal access to his lawyers and family members. Authorities should promptly bring him before an impartial, independent and competent tribunal and guarantee his procedural rights at all times.
Background
The Sudnese government has always used trumped political charges to obstruct the work of journalists, human rights defenders and activitsts. In 2018, ACJPS documented the arrest and detention of three human rights defenders charged with similar offences by the National Intelligence Security Services. They were allegedly subjected to torture and ill-treatment while in detention. In February 2021, editor and owner of Alwan newspaper, Al Masaa Radio and satellite TV channel Omdurman, Hussein Khojaly, was detained after being accused of committing “crimes against the state”. These trumped up political charges often lack legitimacy and violate several rights and freedoms.
For further information, contact Mossaad Mohamed Ali at: mossaad.ali@acjps.org
