Sudan’s National Security Re-arrests Detainees Released by Local Courts

(22 August 2011) On 17 August, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in Nyala, South Darfur, re-arrested Abdalla Haron Adam and Salah Babiker immediately after the Nyala Court ordered that they be released. Mr. Adam is a university graduate and member of the Maasalit ethnic group, and Mr. Babiker is a university student and member of the Fur ethnic group.

Both men were arrested in April 2011 in Nyala for distributing pamphlets in markets calling for regime change, shortly after the 30 January movement mobilised throughout the country. Scores of individuals perceived to be affiliated with the youth movement were arrested by joint police, NISS and military intelligence in Nyala (see Stemming the Tide: Arrests of Students and Youth Continue in Efforts to Curb Potential Organising Power). When the Court heard their case on 17 August, the judge ordered the charges against the defendants dropped and their release under Article 141 of the 1991 Criminal Procedures Act, which enables the Court to drop the case if there is insufficient evidence. Mr. Haron and Mr. Babiker were immediately re-arrested. Mr. Haron was released later in the same day, and Mr. Babiker remains in NISS custody.

The NISS’ blatant disregard for judicial decisions is not isolated to Darfur. In Khartoum on 14 August, the Khartoum Central Criminal Court ordered the release of Bushra Gamar, a member of the Nuba ethnic group and human rights activist who was initially arrested in Omdurman by the NISS on 25 June. Mr. Gamar had previously acted as the Director of the Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO) and the Executive Director for the Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) in South Kordofan. Mr. Gamar was immediately re-arrested and taken back to NISS custody. Similarly, this practice has also been extended to detainees that are suspected of colluding with armed rebel groups. Dahia Massar Musa, a businessman from West Darfur arrested on 18 January and Jamal Hamid Mohamed, arrested by the NISS near the Chadian border in November, were both immediately re-arrested after being released from NISS custody in Khartoum.

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies calls on the Government of Sudan and the NISS to release Mr. Babiker, Mr. Gamar, Mr. Musa and Mr. Mohamed from NISS custody, or charge them with an internationally recognised offence and allow for independently monitored judicial proceedings. The re-arrests of the group after they had been released from NISS custody following judicial decisions is troubling, particularly as there appears to be little recourse available until charges are levied or the time to file new charges has elapsed, which, under the 2010 National Security Act (NSA),  is four and a half months. ACJPS is concerned that this may be a new tactic for the NISS to circumvent legal constraints on indefinite detention by simply allowing those who it has no further authorization to hold to be released and re-arresting them, thereby restarting the clock.

The NISS’ conduct in the cases above indicates the lack of respect for judicial process and the rule of law. It is troubling that the NISS is so blatantly trying to circumvent the law, in violation of the right to protection against indefinite detention. Their re-arrest can be interpreted as an effort by the NISS to detain them indefinitely, not only silencing them, but also intimidating their counterparts. It also exemplifies the de facto sweeping powers of the NISS, who not only failed to abide by the Court’s decision but bypassed their own governing legislation.

The process of legal reform in Sudan and democratic transformation is needed now more than ever, particularly in the process of constitutional revision which has already begun. Mechanisms must be put in place to ensure that the human rights guarantees of the INC and gains of the interim period are not lost, as well as ensuring  that the international community remains critically engaged in the post-transitional period in the two new Sudans.