Girl of 14 held in Sudan junta detention campaign

The ongoing campaign of detentions of opponents of the Sudan coup, does not even spare children, as the authorities detained a 14-year-old girl, Maya Hasan Ahmed, an eighth-grade basic school student, during the February 21 Marches of the Millions in Omdurman. Lawyer Amira Mohamed told Radio Dabanga that the girl is not registered in any police stations.

The Samarab Neighbourhood Committees in Khartoum North reported the detention of committee member Mujahid Mustafa Suleiman, who was from his workplace to an unknown destination.

The Committee for the Defence of Those Affected by Arbitrary and Unlawful Detention reported the arrest of Mohamed Bushra, the brother of an activist, on Monday evening, after a military force stormed their house in Omdurman and searched the house without a judicial search warrant.

The Committee said that this confirms bad intent and abuse of power in pursuing and abusing the revolutionaries, and made it clear that it would submit a memorandum to the Public Prosecutor and inform the UN expert on human rights in Sudan, Adama Dieng, who is currently visiting Sudan.

The Emergency Lawyers team announced the release of another 36 detainees from Soba Prison and Omdurman Women’s Prison, after they were transferred to various police stations, and official complaints were filed against 31 of them. They pointed out that the number of those released has increased since Monday to about 70 detainees, while more than 120 detainees remained in various prisons and detention centres.

Emergency lawyer Amira Mohamed told Radio Dabanga that Alaa Shamseldin and Ibtihal Adel were released from the women’s prison in Omdurman. She referred to the release on bail of more than 20 of the February 21 Marches of the Millions detainees.

She said she received reports about the presence of detainees in the criminal investigations department in Khartoum North (Bahri). The Emergency Lawyers also received phone calls from families of demonstrators missing.

UN Expert

The release of the detainees coincides with the visit of the independent UN expert on human rights, weeks after their detention in Soba Prison without charges and not allowing their families, lawyers, and doctors to visit them.

The lawyers considered that the release of the detainees coincided with the visit of the UN expert as an attempt to obscure the facts and an attempt to suggest that the prisons are free of political detainees

The meetings of the independent UN expert on human rights, Adama Dieng, with various Sudanese forces and entities continued for the third day.

Dieng said in a post on Twitter that during the visit, which will conclude on Thursday, he held useful and constructive meetings with civil society members and relatives of victims of human rights violations and with the authorities.

Osman El Basri, an emergency lawyer, said that Dieng listened to reports from civil society organisations, including the Darfur Bar Association, the Committee for the Defence of Those Affected by Arbitrary and Unlawful Detention, emergency lawyers, and the Unified Doctors Office.

He explained that Dieng expressed his astonishment at the human rights violations taking place in Sudan.

Reports dealt with the violations that occurred after the October 25 coup, represented by the excessive violence that confronts the peaceful processions using various types of weapons, which led to the killing of 82 protesters and about 2,500 injuries, including severe injuries that led to loss of limbs and eye injuries.

El Basri said that the statements before the independent expert dealt with the Emergency Law, degrading treatment in police stations, and various types of violaence such as harassment, rape and fabrication of charges.

They also reported the practice of enforced disappearance in hidden places of detention and preventing detainees from meeting their families and lawyers. More than 40 protesters are still missing.

The testimonies monitored preventing the injured from reaching hospitals, storming hospitals, assaulting medical personnel while performing their work, and detaining the injured and doctors. Reports dealt with rapes, killings and attacks in Darfur and Khartoum, and arrests and violations in Sennar, Wad Madani and other cities.

The Committee for the Defence of Those Affected by Arbitrary and Unlawful Detention demanded that Sudan be placed under Chapter VII in order to achieve protection and public safety for citizens.

The resistance committees in El Iskan in northern Omdurman also organised a parade to topple the coup and demand civilian rule.