There have been further arrests in May 1993 of members of the banned Umma party and the Ansar religious order, a traditional sect in Sudanese Islam, in what appears to be a nationwide crackdown against government opponents. There is concern that they ahve been arrested for engaging in their rights to freedom of expression and association, and Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience. Their places of detention are unknown, but it is believed that they are being held at secret detention centres, known as “ghost houses”, where as suspected government opponents they are at serious risk of torture.
