Detainee in Shalla prison tells of torture by NISS agents

A detainee at Shalla prison in North Darfur revealed that national intelligence agents (NISS) used inhumane practices against him and fellow detainees since their arrest from Abu Shouk Camp last April. The detainees were arrested during protests organized by the displaced people demanding the downfall of the regime. The detainee explained to Radio Dabanga that they were subjected to torture, physically and psychologically, by the central intelligence agents at the central police department in El Fasher near the headquarters of the civil records building. Thereafter they were taken to the security bureau building in El Fasher. The detainee mentioned that they were tortured inside the building by fifteen members of the bureau till they lost consciousness. He stated that the torture was directed by Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mohi Eldeen, the director of security who called on him, along with other detainees, to confess and embrace Islam once again.

The detainee also stated that there was a fifteen-year-old boy named Mohammed Ishaq was also in the torture detention along with three girls aged fifteen, seventeen and nineteen. He also confirmed that they were tortured using whips and electric batons in addition to being starved and deprived of drinking water.

He also said that they were moved to Shalla prison after four days of torture in the security bureau in El Fasher. He affirmed that they found there 22 people detained by the emergency police and 21 accused of being members of the Justice and Equality Movement and that they have all spent a long time in the prison without any trial.

The detainee also confirmed that are being kept alongside convicts and serial killers and robbers, all in one cell. He said the cell is an area of 15 by 5 meters with 75 detainees inside. He also added that they were deprived of food and medical treatment, stating that there were a large number of omdas and sheikhs of camps in other cells.