Amnesty Int. calls for release of deported Sudanese activists

Three Sudanese activists who were deported from Saudi Arabia on 11 July were detained by officers of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) upon arrival in Sudan. They are currently being held at the NISS headquarters in Khartoum North.

Amnesty International stated in an “Urgent Action” call on Thursday that its considers them to be prisoners of conscience, held solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

El Gasim Sid Ahmed and El Waleed Taha were held on 21 December last year in Saudi Arabia and detained without charge. During their detention, the two were interrogated by Saudi security officers.

The interrogation focussed on their social media activism following their support of the civil disobedience protest actions in Sudan in November and December last year on Facebook, Amnesty International states.

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 the El Ha’ir prison in the Saudi Arabian capital of El 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.

Alaeldin El Difana (44), a journalist and long-standing opposition activist, was held on 26 December by four security officers from his apartment in Mecca. They searched his home and car and confiscated his phone and documents without an arrest or search warrant.

El Difana has on several occasions called for social and political change in Sudan. Through his Facebook page, he showed his support for the civil disobedience actions in his home country in end 2016.

Amnesty International calls on the Sudanese authorities to release the three prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally.

They are to be protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and have the right to regular access to their families and a lawyer of their choice without delay, the international human rights organisation states.

In protest against the growing economic crisis and soaring prices, opposition parties and civil society activists called for a civil disobedience action on 27-29 November last year. The action was repeated on 19 December. Many people were detained.