Document - Sudan: Further information on Human Rights Defender/Fear for Safety, Adib Abdel Rahman Yusuf

PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 54/039/2005

20 April 2005

Further Information on UA 285/04 (AFR 54/133/2004, 08 October 2004) - Human Rights Defender/Fear for Safety

SUDAN Adib Abdel Rahman Yusuf (m), aged 30

Adib Abdel Rahman Yusuf was released on 19 April. He had spent seven months in custody without charge or trial.

He is the director of the office of the Sudan Development Organization (SUDO) in Zalingei, West Darfur State. SUDO undertakes training in human rights and humanitarian work in Darfur. He was arrested in September 2004: the authorities did not say why he had been arrested, but he was questioned about the work that SUDO was doing, and their contacts. He was held for four months in a secret detention centre near Kober Prison, known to detainees as “Abu Ghraib” where detainees are kept incommunicado and frequently tortured. For the first two months he had no contact with the outside world. He said he was systematically beaten and tied up, sometimes tied to windows or doors and kept without sleep. Part of the time he was held in solitary confinement, but later he was held with nine other detainees in a room measuring 4mx4m.

After this he spent two months in the mosquito-ridden Debek Prison, north of Khartoum, which is well known for the very poor conditions in which detainees are held. He was then moved to the political section of Kober Prison, in Khartoum North, and held there for one month. He does not know why he was released. During the whole time he was in custody, he was never brought before a prosecutor or judge, and had no contact with his family. He said there were more than 200 political detainees from Darfur at the detention centres.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Human rights activists and others who have tried to document human rights violations committed by the government or the Janjawid militia in Darfur have been arrested, frequently tortured, and held incommunicado without charge or trial for weeks or months.

Many thanks to all who took action on this case. If possible, please send a final round of appeals, in Arabic, English or your own language:

- reminding the authorities that they have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), of which Article 9 prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention and requires that anyone arrested should be brought promptly before a judge;

- calling on the authorities to end secret detention without charge or trial, free all political prisoners they have no intention of trying, and investigate allegations of torture in detention.

APPEALS TO:

Mr Ali Osman Mohamed Taha

First Vice-President

People's Palace

PO Box 281

Khartoum, Sudan

Fax : + 249 183 771651

+ 249 183 779977

Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO)

POBox 11926

Khartoum 11111

Sudan

and to diplomatic representatives of Sudan accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 2 June 2005.