Sudan: Two political opposition leaders arbitrarily detained for a day by Sudanese authorities

(21 May 2022) African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) expresses deep concern about the continued arbitrary arrest and detention of political opposition leaders and other activists in Sudan by security agencies. On 19 May 2022, Mr. Saleh Mahmoud Osman was arrested by General Intelligence Service (GIS) at 01:40pm in Khartoum. He is a lawyer, an award winning human rights defender and a member of Sudanese Communist Party (SCP). Mr. Osman was arrested alongside his colleague, Mr. Mohamed Mukhtar Alkhateeb, the General Secretary of SCP. They were released later at 2:00am on 20 May. ACJPS calls on Sudanese authorities to allow opposition political leaders enjoy rights guaranteed in international and regional human rights treaties ratified by Sudan.

On 19 May, Mr. Osman was arrested at Khartoum airport upon his arrival from Juba, South Sudan. At the Khartoum airport, Mr. Osman successfully went through immigration process but was intercepted by unidentified security agencies who he later came to know as GIS. The men asked for his covid-19 test results and later arrested him. His family was informed about the arrest shortly afterwards.

After the arrest of Mr. Osman, Mr. Mohamed Mukhtar Alkhateeb and Mr. Shadia Abdul Monim, a lawyer, human rights defender and also a member SCP, who had travelled with him proceeded to the party headquarters located in Khartoum and held a press conference where they announced the arrest of Mr. Osman. After the press conference, Mr. Mukhtar left the party headquarters and returned to his home in Khartoum where he was also arrested.

Earlier, on 18 May 2022, the three men were subjected to a house arrest in their hotel room in Juba by South Sudanese authorities. They were interrogated about the reasons for their travel to Kauda, an area controlled by Sudan Liberation Army Movement-Northern (SPLM-N) Sector led by Mr. Abdul Aziz Adam Alhillo. The three men had been on a party mission to have talks with both SPLM-N and Sudanese Liberation Movement Army (SLMA) led by Mr. Abdul Wahid Mohamed Noor in Juba and Kauda in South Kordfan state.

They were released from the house arrest later that same day after party members advocated for their release on social media. A reliable source informed ACJPS that the decision by South Sudan authorities to release the delegation was a result of intervention by some Sudanese authorities. They were allowed to travel back to Khartoum the next day.  SCP and the two movements have announced their position against the October 25^th coup in Sudan. Mr. Osman and Alkhateeb were reportedly interrogated about their discussions with SPLM-N and SLMA by the GIS before their release.

There are several peaceful protesters who have been arrested for their actual or suspected participation in anti-coup rallies by GIS and are detained in a different prisons including Suba and Dabak in Khartoum. Others have been transferred and detained in Port Sudan prison in Red Sea State, East Sudan. The legal basis for these detentions stems from Sudanese Emergency law of 1997 and the Emergency Decree announced on 21 March 2022 by General  Abdul Fatah Abdul Rahman AL Burhan, the chairperson of Sudanese Sovereign Council. The Emergency Decree restored powers of arrest to GIS contrary to the Constitutional Declaration which reduced their powers to gathering and analyzing information and providing it to the competent bodies. This emergency decree further permits GIS to delegate such power to public servants such as acting governors of states since they head security committees in the states. Both Mr. Alkhateeb and Mr. Osman were arbitrarily arrested multiple times in the last regime of Omar Al-Bashir.

ACJPS underscores the ongoing silencing of political opposition members, activists, and human rights defenders through arbitrary detention and criminal charges, despite constitutional guarantees to the freedom of expression, association, and assembly. We reiterate our calls to Sudanese authorities to cease the harassment and intimidation of political opponents and guarantee the right to freedom of assembly, association and expression as recognised by the Constitutional Declaration and Sudan’s commitments under international law

Background

Since the regime of Omar al Bashir, opposition political leaders in Sudan have been targeted with arbitrary arrest and detention. In February 2019, ACJPS documented the arbitrary arrest and detention of 116 political activist during a crackdown on anti-government protests. Since the 25^th October 2021 coup, several opposition leaders have been detained by the military and held incommunicado or under house arrest. Others were allegedly subjected to torture while in detention. Trumped up political charges levelled against them often lack legitimacy and violate several rights and freedoms.

For further information, contact Mossaad Mohamed Ali at: mossaad.ali@acjps.org