Another member of Sudan’s Empowerment Removal Committee held in Khartoum

Sudanese authorities have detained another member of the suspended Empowerment Removal Committee (ERC)* as the coup authorities continue their crackdown on political opponents.

In a statement yesterday, the Leadership Council of the opposition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) condemned the detention of Babakir Feisal, member of the Empowerment Removal Committee and member of the Executive Office of the Forces for Freedom and Change and President of the Executive Office of the Federal Assembly.

Feisal was reportedly held in Khartoum North on Tuesday, as he went to offer condolences to the family of the diseased Sheikh El Shaarani.

Feisal’s detention follows the February 19 detention of Taha Osman Ishag, member of the ERC who is also a leading member of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), the February 9 detention of the ERC leader, Wajdi Saleh, an outspoken voice and supporter of the dismantlement of the ousted Al Bashir regime, former Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Khaled Omar, and the Secretary General of the ERC, El Tayeb Osman, and subsequent February 13 detention of Mohamed El Faki, a former member of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, and the alternate head of the ERC, as well as Maj Awad Karendis, another member of the ERC.

The opposition Forces for Freedom and Change FFC, the main drivers of the revolution that overthrew the 30-year Al Bashir dictatorship in 2019, and convenors of an ongoing campaign of civil disobedience and mass demonstrations since the coup, say the detainees are being held in a separate section of Soba prison.

The campaign of detentions has prompted a chorus of condemnation locally and internationally. A joint statement by the Sudan Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom, and the USA), Canada, Switzerland, and the European Union) following the February 9 arrests points out that “these troubling actions are part of a recent pattern of arrests and detentions of civil society activists, journalists, and humanitarian workers occurring throughout Sudan these last weeks.

“We condemn this harassment and intimidation on the part of Sudan’s military authorities. This is wholly inconsistent with their stated commitment to participate constructively in a facilitated process to resolve Sudan’s political crisis to return to a democratic transition.”

In the statement, the signatory countries call for “an immediate end to such practices and for the immediate release of all those unjustly detained”.

As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, relatives of detained members of the ERC organised a protest sit-in in front of the Public Prosecution in Khartoum on March 1 to demand their immediate release.

A number of lawyers participated in the vigil, and the participants carried pictures of the detainees and banners calling for their release. The protesters hold the authority responsible for any harm that comes to the detainees. It denounced the abuse of legal procedures for the purposes of political repression.

* The full name of the committee is the Committee for Dismantling the June 30 1989 Regime, Removal of Empowerment and Corruption, and Recovering Public Funds. It was established by the government of Abdallah Hamdok at the end of 2019 with the aim to purge Sudan of the remnants of the Al Bashir regime. Empowerment (tamkin) is the term with which the ousted government of Omar Al Bashir supported its affiliates by granting them far-going privileges, including government functions, the setting-up of various companies, and tax exemptions.