African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS | المركز الافريقي لدراسات العدالة و السلام
(2 March, 2023) African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) calls upon Sudanese authorities to urgently investigate the custodial death of Mr. Aldigil Adam Mohamed Ishaq, a 40-year-old resident of Sraf Omrah in North Darfur State from Sraf Omrah Police Station on 25 February 2023. Authorities should subject the allegations of torture and the circumstances leading to the death of Mr. Ishaq to an immediate and effective investigation by an independent and impartial commission. This process should be public and transparent. And if there is sufficient evidence, suspected perpetrators should be charged and prosecuted in fair proceedings which comply with international standards of fair trial.
We further reiterate our calls for law reform and call on the Sudanese authorities to adopt legislation that defines and criminalises torture in line with international standards including the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), provide effective access to justice and adequate reparation to victims of torture, and ensure that confessions obtained under torture are not used or accepted by courts under any circumstances. The Government should expressly denounce the use of torture by security agents to intimidate or extract confessions from persons in their custody.
Mr. Ishaq was arrested on 24 February 2023 from his family home following a clash between him and his nephew over an electronic device. It is alleged that he was subjected to beating with sticks on his neck during his arrest by two policemen. He passed on from the police station on 25 February 2023. The first medical report showed that the deceased had swellings in his shoulders which he sustained from beatings either while he was being transported or while in police custody at Sraf Omrah police Station. According to another medical report by a general doctor, Mr. Ishaq’s primary cause of death was a broken neck and a swelling on his shoulders. The general doctor recommended that the body be taken for autopsy. The body was then taken to Elgenina in West Darfur for autopsy after his family refused to receive it without a postmortem report.
Other cases of alleged torture of detainees by security officers
On 22 February 2023, Mr. Hussan Alsiad, a 19-year-old was allegedly subjected to torture inside Central Police Station in Khartoum. He was allegedly beaten and subjected to verbal abuse and threats by police officers. Mr. Hussan was detained in Kober Prison where he was attacked by another prisoner, and he sustained injuries in his eyes. He is a member of East Aldium resistance committee. He was arrested alongside 6 other members following the death of a Sudanese military intelligence officer (sergeant) during anti-coup rally in Khartoum on 8 March 2021.
The group was charged with murder and the case was forwarded to court vide case file No: 1152/2022 for trial. During a court session on 15 February 2023, the seven detainees starting with Mr. Jad AL Kareem Juma aged 21-years-old testified before the court. Mr. Juma testified that a week before the court session, he was arrested by military intelligence officers who threatened him and directed him to testify against his colleagues.
Other developments
Due to the overwhelming cases of allegations of torture by detainees, on 11 December 2022, the Khartoum Criminal court Judge Mr. Zuhair directed that a case be filed under Article 90 (Public servant misusing power to commit persons for trial or in confinement) of Sudanese Penal Code 1991 against the Director of Kober Prison, General Alteyeb and for deliberate disobedience of court orders by the prison authorities. Prison authorities had defied court orders by producing a suspect, Mr. Tobaak to court in handcuffs on three separate occasions. In another incident, on 22 December 2022, during a court session, the prison guards had refused to remove handcuffs from an accused claiming that they had left the keys at the prison. Also, in a separate incident, court issued an order to end the isolated detention of a prisoner, Mr. Mohamed Adam Arbab also known as Tobaak and for him to be returned to Western Cells inside Kober Prison along with two other detainees. The prison authorities did not comply with this order too.
The court is currently handling a case of alleged murder of a Police officer from Central Reserve Police on 13 February 2022 in Khartoum on the Main Street. Several resistance committee members were arrested in relation to the murder and detained in incommunicado at Khartoum Bahari Federal Police Investigation Unit. The lawyers of the detainees alleged to ACJPS that their clients have been subjected to torture. Charges of murder under 130 of the Sudanese Penal Code 1991 has preferred against them vide case No. 94/2022.
Background
Sudanese authorities have been consistently implicated in the use of torture as a means of intimidation and to extract confessions. Despite the ratification of UNCAT and prohibition of torture in Constitutional Charter, laws like the 1994 Evidence Act create conditions rendering detainees extremely vulnerable to torture and ill-treatment. The 2007 Armed Forces Act and 2008 Police Act continue to grant immunities to state actors.
The government of Sudan has repeatedly failed to ensure prompt, thorough, impartial and effective investigations into allegations of torture, ill-treatment and has failed to ensure effective remedies or provide reparation to the victims. Even in cases where the immunities mentioned above have been lifted, victims of torture have faced various barriers that make it extremely hard to report cases of torture. ACJPS is not aware of a single case where an alleged perpetrator of torture has been held to account. On 30 December 2020, ACJPS documented the disappearance and custodial death of Mr. Baha Eldeen Nory and in March 2019, the center reported the custodial death of three university students.
