Detained Sudanese human rights defender on hunger strike in Kober prison

Sudanese human rights defender and activist, Dr Mudawi Ibrahim, who has been detained without trial in Khartoum’s Kober Prison from early December, has been on a hunger strike since Sunday.

Other detainees who were released on Monday told Radio Dabanga of Dr Ibrahim’s strike. They described his health condition as very bad and confirmed that he has been severely beaten and tortured in the prison.

The detainees say that the detainee has been shacked hand and foot in an attempt to force him to lift the strike. His family told Radio Dabanga of their grave concern for his welfare.

A relative said that the family have not been allowed to visit him, in spite of five separate requests filed with the security authorities.

The family asked human rights groups and activists to act quickly so as to save the life of Dr Ibrahim.

Torture

Detainee Abdallah Abdelgayoum, who was released with 30 others by the security forces on Sunday, spoke of “the ill-treatment of detainees and the appalling torture” suffered by him and a number of detainees including Dr Ibrahim and his driver Hafiz Idris.

He told the independent electronic newspaper Hurriyat in its edition yesterday that eight members of the security services arrested him from El Gedaref on December 18. He was beaten and interrogated about his relationship with the SPLM-N and Yasir Arman, and the activity of the Office of El Gedaref

He said that the worst treatment in detention is suffered by the people of Darfur who are being brutally tortured. He also described the horrific torture of Dr Ibrahim and Idris.

Human rights defender

Dr Mudawi Ibrahim is a human rights defender and engineer known for his role in exposing human rights violations in Darfur. He is the founder and former director of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO), which works on human rights as well as water, sanitation and health.

He has repeatedly been jailed for charges related to his human rights work. In recognition of his perseverance in promoting and defending human rights in Sudan, Dr Ibrahim received the inaugural Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk in 2005.

His arrest came at a time when at least 23 opposition leaders and supporters are in jail having been arrested in connection with a three-day stay-at-home strike called in protest against the rising cost of living and government spending cuts. The strike took place between 27 to 29 November 2016.

In December 2003 he was detained for eight months in connection with his work on Darfur. He was arrested again in January 2005 in similar circumstances and held for two months, before being re-arrested in May the same year and held for a further eight days.