Farmer tortured to death, two held incommunicado in West Darfur

The Sudanese authorities should urgently investigate the torture and custodial death of one man and reported torture of two others in West Darfur, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The three men were detained by members of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) inside the home of Abakar Adam Ishag(32) in Karo Karo village, east of Jebel Moon, at around midday on 17 July. Ismail Ibrahim Gamareldin (30), and El Nur Omda Yagoub (28) were having breakfast with him on the first day of Eid.

The SAF officers reportedly arrived at Ishag’s home in three Land Cruisers and instructed the three men to get into the vehicles without providing arrest warrants.

According to reliable sources, the detained men are farmers belonging to the Misseriya Jebel ethnic group, who also work at the market of Sileia, in Jebel Moon locality during the dry season.

They were reportedly accused of providing information to the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Ishag of being a key JEM informant.

Available information suggests that all three were subjected to torture, including severe beatings during the first two days at the Jebel Moon military base, the ACJPS statement reads.

There are also unconfirmed reports that Ishag was suspended from a tree and beaten with a Kalashnikov rifle during that time. Wounds on his corpse indicated that he had also been stabbed or beaten with a sharp object.

On 19 July he was taken to the hospital by an SAF commander from the Jebel Moon base, but reportedly died on the way to the Teaching Hospital in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur.

His body was cremated without his family members being notified, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies reports.

The African Centre stresses that “immediate steps should be taken” to guarantee the safety of Gamareld and Yagoub, “who face an ongoing risk of torture”, and “are thought to be detained at the Military Intelligence compound in El Geneina.

“They should be granted immediate access to appropriate medical care, their families and lawyers, and released immediately in the absence of valid legal charges consistent with international standards.”

The African Centre further calls on the Sudanese government to immediately investigate “the grave allegations and hold those responsible to account”.