West Darfur: Two human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Beida locality

(25 June 2022) African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) expresses deep concern over the increased targeting of human rights defenders by security operatives in Sudan since the coup of 25^th October 2021. In this release, ACJPS documents the arbitrary arrest and detention of two human rights defenders by authorities in Beida locality, West Darfur on 23 March 2022. They were held without charge for more than two months at a police station in Elgenina, West Darfur until 29 May 2022. Sudanese authorities must cease the repression of human rights defenders and allow them to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, as guaranteed under Sudan’s Constitution and international standards ratified by Sudan.

In March 2022, Mr. Mohamed Abdullah Abdul Kareem, a human rights defender and Mr. Juma Youssef, a teacher and human rights defender as well, together with other youth peacefully protested against land grabbing scheme targeting a yard used by people for public events and accessed by all neighborhoods in Beida. Several Beida residents had without any authorization started building shops on part of the yard located next to the main market of Beida, with one family owning at least 20 twenty shops in the area. The two human rights defenders and members of the resistance committees of Beida peacefully protested this alleged illegal ownership. Mr. Khalil Ahmed Degrsho, the Executive Director of Beida locality who also acts as the chairperson of the locality security committee intervened but instead approved the claim of ownership by those who were allegedly illegally building on the land.

After the protest, both Mr. Kareem and Mr. Youssef were arrested on the orders of the Beida Security Committee under different circumstances. Mr. Abdul Kareem was arrested by joint Sudanese and Chadian forces and detained at their base on 23 March 2022.

Mr. Youssef was arrested after he went to report a case at the police station. He was asked by a Police officer at Beida Police Station to enter a police cell for his “safety”. The police officer claimed that there was case against him at the customary court headed by a community leader known as “Fersha”. Mr. Youssef was informed by the police that Mr. Ahmed Al-Dwayi, brother to Mr. Hamid Al-Dwai (the head of Arab community leaders in West Darfur known as “Amir”) was a complainant in the matter. Mr. Youssef had gone to report a case against a family member of Ahmed Al-Dawais who entered his house and abused his wife. He also wanted to report some police men who wanted to arrest him with without a warrant. His complaint was never registered by the police.

On 20 May 2022, Mr. Kareem and Mr. Youssef were transferred to a Police Station in Elgenina, West Darfur State where they were held without charge until 29 May 2022. The two human rights defenders have earlier been arrested on several occasions and detained in Beida.

In a separate incident, on the night of 3 June 2022, offices belonging to three human rights defenders in Al-Obied town, North Kordfan were set ablaze. Two of the offices were completely burned down and nothing was recovered while the third one was partially burnt but some items like computers, hard drives and photocopying machine were missing. Individuals suspected to have committed this act were found at bypass street next to the offices.

The human rights defenders are:

1. Osman Saleh, a human rights defender whose work is focused providing legal aid to survivors and families of victims of human rights violations. Mr. Saleh was the Chairperson of the Accusation Council in the case where a group of Rapid Support Forces were accused of shooting at peaceful protesters in Al-Obied on 20 May 2020, killing five high school students. Upon the conclusion of the trial, court convicted 5 accused persons and sentenced them to death. The convicts have since appealed to the high court against the sentence. Mr. Saleh has previously been arrested by the National Intelligence Security Services in January 2018 and released three months later in March 2018. He was again arrested on 11 January 2019 and released after the overthrow of president Omer Al-Bashir on 11 April 2019.  During this recent attack, Mr. Saleh’s office was completely burned down.
2. Kamal Husain, a lawyer and human rights defender.
3. Ali Abu Algasim, a human rights defender who provides legal aid to victims of human rights violations. He was also a member of the Accusation Council in Al-Obeid. He was previously arrested by NISS in January 2018 and was released on 13 February 2019.

ACJPS calls on Sudanese authorities to instruct its law enforcement agencies to cease harassment and intimidation of individuals exercising their rights legitimately. The authorities must guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate activities without fear of reprisals and free from any restrictions, including judicial harassment.

We further urge authorities to:

• Respect the right of Sudanese people to peacefully protest and fully exercise their rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression, as recognized in the Constitutional Charter.
• Collaborate with the Sudanese Bar Association and carryout impartial investigations into the cases of arson and malicious damage to property of the three human rights defenders.

Background

Security and safety of human rights activists has changed for the worst following the coup of 25 October 2021 that saw to the declaration of a state of Emergency and the return of the 1997 Sudanese Emergency and Public Safety law. These laws gave wide powers of arrest and other grounds for National Security Forces to commit violations against Sudanese citizens. ACJPS documented the arrest of more than 30 human rights defenders since the coup. The State of emergency was lifted on 29 May 2022 and all those arrested under the law were be released but many have remained in detention to date.