Sudan: Arbitrary arrest/Incommunicado Detention

Subject: Sudan: Observatory - SDN 004/ 0106 / OBS 054 - Arbitrary arrest/Incommunicado Detention

URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

SDN 004/ 0106 / OBS 054
Arbitrary arrest/Incommunicado Detention
Sudan
20th June 2001

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the FIDH and the OMCT, requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Sudan.

Brief description of the facts:
The Observatory has been informed by the Sudanese Victims of Torture Group (SVTG), of the arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention of 41 year-old Faisal el Bagir Mohamed, a member of SVTG network inside Sudan and freelance journalist. According to the information received, Mr. el Bagir was arrested
on Wednesday 13 June 2001 at 6pm from his house in Khartoum. Security officers searched his house for hours while his wife and child were present. During this time they confiscated his personal computer, printer, fax and all the documents in his house. He was released at midnight and ordered to report again on Thursday 14 June at 10 am to the security offices in Khartoum. When he returned on Thursday he was kept at the security offices and he still remains in detention. SVTG contacted his wife Mona Shashog, and she confirmed she went to the security offices to visit her husband and give him some clothes, but the security
officers refused to reveal his whereabouts.

According to the information received, three days prior to his arrest, Mr. el Bagir met with the Sudanese Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr. Ahmed Al-Mufti, who is also a delegate to the UN Human Rights Commission, and Mr. Yasir Sidahmed, the Sudanese Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Consultative
Council rapporteur, to discuss the possible organisation of a rally to commemorate the UN's international day in support of victims of torture on June 26th. It is believed his arrest may be due to his involvement in this project. Mr. el Bagir is acting as coordinator for the various NGOs participating in this event, namely the
SVTG, the International Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture (IRCT), the People Legal Aid Centre, the Amal Centre, the Khartoum Centre, and Mutawnat (a women's rights organisation). Mr. el Bagir has also reportedly been interrogated about other members of SVTG during his detention, and the Observatory fears that he may be being tortured as part of this process.Faisal el Bagir is a well known journalist and active member of the SVTG network inside Sudan. He has strong contacts with international human rights organisations and the human rights community inside Sudan. Last year he was accredited by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), to attend the 52nd session of the UN Sub Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Mr. el Bagir is also a member of the Amal Centre. Last month, he and other human rights defenders were responsible for the official registration of the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights Education and Environmental Development.The Observatory is gravely concerned about the incommunicado detention of Faisal el Bagir and the Sudanese Government's increasing harassment and detention of human rights defenders, specifically members of the SVTG, over the last three months.
The Observatory recently issued an urgent appeal concerning the arbitrary arrest and detention of another member of the SVTG organisation, Dr. Nagib Nagmeldeen el Toum (see SDN 001/0301/OBS 020), who has since been released as a result of the international and national solidarity campaign.

Action requested:

Please write to the authorities of Sudan urging them to:
i. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of
Faisal el Bagir under all circumstances;
ii. guarantee that he be allowed to meet with his family;
iii. order the immediate release of Faisal el Bagir in the
absence of valid legal charges or, if such charges exist,
bring them before an impartial, independent and competent
tribunal and guarantee his procedural rights at all times;
iv. put an end to all forms of harassment of human rights
defenders and their organisations, and ensure that they are
allowed to carry out their work without obstacles;
v. ensure the application of the provisions of the
Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the
General Assembly of the UN on December 9th 1998,
especially with respect to the protection of the right of all
persons, "...individually or in association with others, to
promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of
human and fundamental freedoms at the national and
international levels" (Art.1.) as well as the duty of the State
to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of
everyone, individually and in association with others, against
any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure,
adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action
as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the
rights referred to in the present Declaration" (Art.12.2);
vi. ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights
and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international
human rights standards.

Addresses

§ His Excellency Lieutenant General Omar Hassan al-
Bashir, President of the Republic of Sudan, People's
Palace, PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan. Telex : 22385
PEPLC SD or 22411 KAID SD - Fax : (+249 11) 71 7 24
§ Mr. Abd al-Basit Sabdarat, Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General, Ministry of Justice, Khartoum, Sudan.
Telex : 22459 KHRJA SD or 22461 KHRJA SD (via
Ministry of Foreign Affairs) - Fax : (+249 11) 740 63
§ Mr. Mustafa Osman Ismail, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PO Box 873, Khartoum,
Sudan. Telex : 22459 KHRJA SD or 22461 KHRJA SD -
Fax : (+249 11) 740 63

The Diplomatic Representatives of Sudan in your country.

Geneva, 20th June 2001

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this
appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the
protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them
concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the
winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: { HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" }[email protected]
Tel and fax FIDH 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 01 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 4122 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29