African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS | المركز الافريقي لدراسات العدالة و السلام
(9 April 2020) African Center for Justice and peace Studies (ACJPS) welcomes the release of 4,217 male prisoners from Al-Huda prison located in the city of Omdurman, twin city of the capital Khartoum on 26 March 2020. Their release came after the Sudan Sovereign Council passed a resolution on 23 March 2020 to release prisoners as a measure to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in jails across the country. ACJPS urges the Sovereign Council to extend these measures to other detention centers including women’s prisons, and other reformatory centers across the country.
Despite the release, ACJPS expresses deep concern for the continued detention without trial of 250 officers from the Border Guard Forces including their leader General Musa Hilal detained and charged between August and December 2017. Detainees were arrested in the Mestriha village in Northern Darfur State following the issuance of a Presidential Decree (No 419/2017) by former President, Omar Al-Bashir in August 2017. The Decree ordered a Government-led campaign intended to disarm and collect firearms from civilians in the Darfur region and Kordofan states. The campaign was carried out by the Rapid Support Forces under the command of the current vice Chairperson of the Sovereign Council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dalgo, popularly known as “Himite”. ACJPS urges the transitional government to drop charges and release all detainees or in the event that the charges are not dropped, authorities must ensure that detainees are promptly brought before an independent and impartial court to stand trial and challenge the legality of their detention.
Sudanese authorities have always relied on powers of arrest provided for under the National Security Act 2010, Criminal Procedure Act 1991 and the Emergency and Protection of Public Safety Act of 1997 to give effect to these arrests and continued detention. The laws in question grant competent authorities with wide grounds for arrest and detention and lack the requisite safeguards against arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention. The transitional government must undertake comprehensive legal reform in relation to provisions on detention and repeal provisions allowing for indefinite detention without any judicial oversight.
It should be noted that the current charges against the Border Guard Forces and their leader, Musa Hilal does not include crimes they committed against civilians while they fought alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces in Darfur region between 2003 and 2013. Mr Musa Hilal is also former leader of the Janjaweed, a militia group that committed gross human rights violations against civilians in Darfur. Their release will pave way for accountability efforts by the transitional government that has seen investigations into crimes committed against civilians since 30 June 1989.
By March 2020, the Sudanese Attorney General announced that his office has completed investigations of several cases against the members of al Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP), as well as the recent massacre of internally displaced persons in Algenina, West Darfur State and, were in the process of making referrals to the courts of law. ACJPS calls on the Attorney General Proirtise cases against NCP members to avoid prolonged detention without trial.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, ACJPS also calls on the transitional government to review the conditions of detention centers across the country to ensure it meets the minimum standards set by international treaties to which Sudan is party. The office of the Attorney General, in collaboration with the Ministry of health and Ministry of Internal affairs should urgently come up with a health plan that guarantees the safety and wellbeing of all detainees amidst the outbreak of COVID-19. Authorities should adopt the recent guidelines set by the World Health Organization to prevent and control COVID-19 in prisons and other places of detention. On 25 March 2020, the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture called on governments in response to COVID-19 to “reduce prison populations and other detention populations wherever possible.” This should include releasing people who should not be in custody, such as those detained without charge, arbitrarily detained, or detained for offenses that should not be criminalized. Release of the border guard forces would protect the congested prison population who are most vulnerable to the coronavirus. Report from the office of the Sudanese Minster for Health indicate that Sudan has 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while more than 113 people have been placed under institutional quarantine in different medical centers in Khartoum.
ACJPS calls on the transitional government to come up with a comprehensive plan to prevent and respond to a COVID-19 outbreak in detention facilities across Sudan. Measures taken must protect both the physical and mental health of detainees. Prisons should balance the protection of inmates and staff with needs for family and connection and protect the right of access to a lawyer.
We further urge authorities to:-
- Release all those arbitrarily detained, and for those charged, ensure prompt access to a lawyer of their own choosing.
- Ensure that all detainees are brought promptly before a judge to review the legality and conditions of their detention, have the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court, and are guaranteed the right to fair trial according to international standards.
- Undertake comprehensive law reform of the National Security Act 2010, Criminal Procedure Act 1991, Emergency Act 1997, to guarantee custodial guarantees including access to legal representation at all stages of proceedings, prompt information on details of arrest, judicial oversight, in line with international human rights law obligations.
- Ensure that the humane treatment of prisoners of wars and adherence to conditions of detention according to international humanitarian law.
Background
Musa Hilal, a renowned leader of the Janjaweed, a Government aided militia, fought against armed groups from the African tribes during the conflict in Darfur. The Janjaweed were implicated in mass atrocities including war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred during the conflict. Instead of disbanding the Janjaweed and holding them responsible for serious human rights violations and international crimes in Darfur, Al Bashir’s government incorporated the Janjaweed forces under the Sudan Armed Forces as a newly created unit called the Border Guard Forces. Hilal was made a member of al Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) and later appointed as a Special Advisor to the Ministry of Governance. However Hilal soon grew dissatisfied with the way the regime handled his political ambitions. In 2014, Hilal set up his own political body, the Awakening (El Sahaw) Revolutionary Council, which he used to advance his political interests and control in Darfur.
The disarmament campaign in 2017 took place under a state of emergency declared in the five states of Darfur. The legal framework for emergencies as set out in the Emergency and Protection of Public Safety Act of 1997, read together with the Emergency and Public Safety Bylaw of 1998, permits preventive arrest and detention on vague grounds. The 1998 Bylaw provides neither time limits for this type of detention, nor judicial oversight, and therefore authorizes prolonged if not indefinite detention.
Contact:
Mossaad Mohamed Ali, Executive Director, African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies . (English, Arabic, Swedish): +46727712782
