Mahjoub al-Zubeir, former president of Sudanese Workers Trade Union Federation (SWTUF), Yahya Ali Abdallah, former SWTUF secretary general, Nasur Ali Nasur, former SWTUF treasurer, Awad al-Karim Mohamed Ahmed, trade unionist, engineer, Minallah Abdelwahab Eissa, former SWTUF press officer, Yahya Saleh Mukwar, medical doctor and former Doctors Union official: These six trade unionists, who have all been active in clandestine opposition since independent trade unions were banned in Sudan, were arrested in Khartoum on 4 June 1996. They have not been brought to court or charged and are believed to be held by the security authorities in secret detention centres known as “ghost houses”, where torture of political detainees is common.
