Sudan: Activists deported from Saudi Arabia detained: Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed, Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha and Alaa Aldin al-Difana
Activists Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed, Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha and Alaa Aldin al-Difana were deported from Saudi Arabia to Sudan on 11 July. The Sudanese National Intelligence Service (NISS) arrested them upon arrival in Sudan. The three are currently being held at the NISS headquarters in Khartoum North. Amnesty considers them to be prisoners of conscience held solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
UA: 157/17 Index: AFR 54/6768/2017 Sudan Date: 26 July 2017
URGENT ACTION
ACTIVISTS DEPORTED FROM SAUDI ARABIA DETAINED
Activists Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed, Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha and Alaa Aldin
al-Difana were deported from Saudi Arabia to Sudan on 11 July. The Sudanese National
Intelligence Service (NISS) arrested them upon arrival in Sudan. The three are currently
being held at the NISS headquarters in Khartoum North. Amnesty considers them to be
prisoners of conscience held solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed and Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha, Sudanese nationals, were arrested on 21
December 2016 in Saudi Arabia and detained without charge. During their detention, the two told their families that
they were interrogated around eight times by security officers from the Saudi Arabia General Directorate of
Investigations (also known as al-Mabahith). The interrogation centered around their social media activism following
their support of the civil disobedience protest in Sudan in November and December 2016 on Facebook. Saudi
Arabian security officers told them that they were being detained and interrogated at the behest of the Sudanese
authorities and that they might be deported to Sudan. The two activists were held incommunicado at al-Ha’ir prison
in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh until 13 February when their families were allowed to visit them for the first
time. However, they remained in solitary confinement at the prison until 6 March when they were finally moved into
a cell together.
Alaa Aldin Daffalla al-Difana, 44, a Sudanese national, journalist and long-standing opposition activist, was
arrested and detained at around 9am on 26 December 2016 by four security officers from the Ministry of Interior
while at his apartment in Mecca, western Saudi Arabia. They searched his home and car and confiscated his
phone and documents without an arrest or search warrant. Alaa Aldin al-Difana, who also works at a driving school,
has on several occasions called for social and political change in Sudan. Through his Facebook page, Alaa Aldin
al-Difana showed his support for the November and December 2016 civil disobedience in Sudan.
Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed, Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha and Alaa Aldin al-Difana were deported from
Saudi Arabia to Sudan on 11 July. They were arrested by the NISS upon arrival in Sudan and are being held at the
NISS headquarters in Khartoum North.
Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:
Calling on the Sudanese authorities to release Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed, Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha
and Alaa Aldin Daffalla al-Difana immediately and unconditionally;
Urging them to ensure that Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed, Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha and Alaa Aldin
Daffalla al-Difana are granted regular access to their families and a lawyer of their choice without delay;
Urging them to ensure that pending their release, the three are protected from torture and other ill-treatment.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 6 SEPTEMBER 2017 TO:
President
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
Office of the President
People’s Palace
PO Box 281
Khartoum, Sudan
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister for Justice
Idris Ibrahim Jameel
Ministry of Justice
PO Box 302
Al Nil Avenue
Khartoum, Sudan
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Minister for Interior
Hamed al-Mannan
Ministry of Interior
PO Box 873
Khartoum, Sudan
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
ACTIVISTS DEPORTED FROM SAUDI ARABIA DETAINED
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
On 3 November 2016, the Government of Sudan imposed new economic austerity measures to reduce the trade deficit and to
stop the deteriorating exchange rate of the Sudanese Pound. The new measures significantly increased fuel, transport, food,
electricity and medicine prices. In protest against the government’s new economic policy, political activists called for a three-day
nationwide strike from 27 to 29 November 2016. The strike was widely supported. A call was then made for a second civil
disobedience action on 19 December 2016, which was supported by activists both inside and outside Sudan. In a pre-emptive
move in early November 2016, the Sudanese government began arresting dozens of political activists and continually
supressed press freedom; seven newspapers all had their issues confiscated on 23 different occasions in November and
December 2016.
Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed had lived in Saudi Arabia since 1998 and Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha since 2013. Both men
worked in a supply company in Riyadh. They were arrested outside their workplace at about 5pm on 21 December 2016 by
security officers dressed in civilian clothing. They were driven to their respective homes, which the officers then searched. The
officers told Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed’s family that they were from the Ministry of Interior’s Security Division and that he
would be released by midnight. No arrest or search warrant was shown to the families for either men. The two men were held
incommunicado from the time of their arrest until 13 February, when their families were allowed to visit. According to their
families, Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed and Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha were told by security officials during their
interrogation that they would face imprisonment or deportation.
Alaa Aldin al-Difana is a member of the National Umma Party (Hizb al-Umma al-Qawmi), an opposition political party in Sudan.
On his Facebook page, he wrote about medical negligence in Sudan’s hospitals and corruption within Sudan’s government
ministries. He is also a well-known journalist and has written for various Sudanese websites. According to his family, he was
previously arrested in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2012 for his activism in Sudan. He left Sudan for Saudi Arabia in 2012.
The NISS maintains broad powers of arrest and detention under the National Security Act 2010 (NSA), which allows suspects to
be detained for up to four-and-a-half months without judicial review. NISS officials often use these powers to arbitrarily arrest
and detain individuals, and many have been subjected to torture or other forms of ill-treatment. Under the same Act, NISS
agents are provided with protection from prosecution for any act committed in the course of their work, which has resulted in a
pervasive culture of impunity. The constitutional amendment to Article 151 (NSA) passed on 5 January 2015 expanding the
mandate of the NISS and exacerbating the situation. The amendment transformed the NISS from an intelligence agency
focused on information gathering, analysis and advice, to a fully-fledged security agency with a broad mandate to exercise a mix
of functions usually carried out by the armed forces or law enforcement agencies. It gave the NISS unlimited discretion to
decide what constitutes a political, economic or social threat and how to respond to such threats. Neither the NSA nor the
revised Article 151 explicitly or implicitly require the NISS to abide by relevant international, regional and domestic law in the
operation of its duties.
Name: Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed, Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha and Alaa Aldin Daffalla al-Difana
Gender m/f: m
UA: 157/17 Index: AFR 54/6768/2017 Issue Date: 26 July 2017