Amnesty: Sudan must release detained and tortured teenagers now

Amnesty International has launched a campaign in which they demand the release of Mohamed Adam (17) and Mohamed El Fateh (18), who have been detained since January 14 on suspicion of killing a police officer and have been subjected to severe torture. 

In a statement published on February 28, Amnesty wrote that “there are credible concerns the youths were abducted and held without charge, in violation of their due process rights, and subjected to torture while in detention”.

In an appeal for ‘urgent action’, Amnesty is asking supporters to write to Attorney General Khalifa Ahmed to express their ‘deep concern’ for the arbitrary detention of the two teenagers and to demand their immediate release ‘unless they are charged with an internationally recognisable criminal offence and remanded by an independent court’.

The organisation has published a template letter that can be sent to the Attorney General to ask for the detainees’ immediate release.

Khalifa Ahmed was appointed as Sudan’s new Attorney General in December by Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, who is chairperson of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council and leader of the October 25 military coup. Khalifa Ahmed replaced Tajelsir El Hibir who became Attorney General during the 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy.

The arrests

Mohamed Adam, nicknamed ‘Tupac’, and Mohamed El Fateh, nicknamed ‘El Nana’, have been held without charges since they were violently detained on January 14 in Khartoum in connection with the stabbing Brig Ali Bereima to death during the January 13 Marches of the Millions.

For the first three weeks of their detention, they were held incommunicado without access to their families, lawyer, or a doctor. Throughout their detention, both activists were subjected to torture.

Tupac was held hen he left a hospital in Khartoum for treatment after he sustained two gunshot wounds in his leg during the January 13 Marches of the Millions.

‘The two were questioned about the sources of funding behind the protests and about members of resistance committees, but not about the police brigadier they were accused of stabbing’

In January, lawyer Eman Hasan told Radio Dabanga that the two detainees were questioned about the sources of funding behind the protests and about members of resistance committees, but not about the police brigadier they were accused of stabbing.

The authorities hold them responsible for the killing of Brig Bereima during the protests. Various Sudanese, however, reported on social media that Brig Ali Bereima was killed a week before. Others tweeted that the police officer was killed in the early morning of January 13, while the demonstrations started much later that day.

Torture

Lawyer Eman Hasan said in January that Adam was repeatedly beaten on his wounded leg whilst in detention and that El Fateh, originally from Wad Madani in El Gezira, was injured in the head and hand. She also reported that both had been subjected to severe beatings and electric shocks.

‘Tupac’s mother reported that she saw that two nails had been hammered into his legs, which had also been beaten whilst still injured from the gunshot wounds sustained at the protests’

Tupac’s mother reported that she saw that two nails had been hammered into his legs, which had also been beaten whilst still injured from the gunshot wounds sustained at the protests. These injuries have left him unable to walk, Amnesty reported.

She also said that her son had blood pressure issues but had not been allowed to see a doctor or take medications. Requests for the detainees to be examined by doctors were rejected, despite this being allowed according to Sudanese law.

Two days ago, Radio Dabanga reported that Tupac was subjected to continuous beatings, that the plaster was removed from his broken leg without medical supervision, and that he was deprived of water. His lawyers reported that he is constantly shackled.

Lawyer Hasan says that Tupac suffers from swelling in the nose due to being hit with rifle butts, swelling behind the ear, with the inability to stand on his feet. She also explained that El Nana suffered injuries to his back as a result of torture.

Tupac is now on hunger strike in protest of their arbitrary detention, Amnesty explained in its statement.

Another lawyer said that she had seen cigarette burns on El Fateh’s head and that he had not been allowed to see visitors: “I believe they didn’t want us to see him because he was in bad shape”.