Faroug Abu Eisa taken to hospital in Sudan’s capital

Faroug Abu Eisa, chairman of the National Consensus Forces, detained by the security apparatus on 6 December, was taken to a hospital in Khartoum today.

Abu Eisa was held incommunicado by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) from the day of his detention until Monday, when he was transferred to Kober Prison in Khartoum North. After his health deteriorated on Tuesday morning, the prison management sent him to a hospital.

“We were not allowed to wait for the medical tests,” his daughter, Nahla Abu Eisa, told the press in Khartoum today.

She said that that the family is extremely worried about his health. “My father has lost a lot of weight caused by solitary confinement for more than two weeks”.

Abu Eisa, Dr Amin Mekki Madani, a prominent human rights lawyer and chairman of the Civil Society Initiative, and Farah El Agar, legal consultant of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, were detained inside their homes in Khartoum on 6 December, after their return from Addis Ababa. Abu Eisa and Madani had signed the Sudan Appeal in the Ethiopian capital three days before with the Sudan Revolutionary Front, an alliance of the main rebel movements, and the National Umma Party. In the document, the allied opposition forces call for a peaceful regime change, and the establishment of democracy in Sudan.

The three detainees were held incommunicado until Sunday night, when they were transferred to Kober Prison. A NISS officer notified the head of the defence team that the security had filed criminal charges against them, related to “undermining the constitutional order, and violently opposing the authorities”, punishable with the death penalty.