HUDO calls for release of South Kordofan market trader

Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) has called for the immediate release of a South Kordofan market trader following the murder of three people, allegedly by members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

In a statement today, HUDO reports that on March 2, more than eight SPLM-N soldiers led by an officer allegedly raided the house of Omer Yousef Omer, the sheikh of Kalenda village and killed him.

They also took two of his neighbours, Adam Imam Jubara and Mohamed Abdelrahim Kabashi, with them. Jubara and Kabashi were later found dead two kilometres from the village.

Hudo further claims that on March 5, Mohamed Awad Bakheet (45), a former SPLM-N member and now a trader at El Abbasiya market,  was arrested by agents of Military Intelligence. His whereabouts is unknown and he is suspected to be under torture.

“On 5th March four Military Intelligence personnel in civilian clothes came in a Land Cruiser to Bakheet’s house looking for him at 7.30 pm,” the HUDO statement reads.

“They were informed that he had gone to the mosque. Immediately, they drove to the mosque where they waited for Bakheet to come out. They arrested him and took him to unknown place. Since then, he is held in isolation whereby nobody has contacted him and he is suspected to be under torture.”

The statement asserts that HUDO has reliable information that the arrest of Bakheet is in relation to the incident at Kalenda village. “HUDO is very concerned about the situation of civilians in South Kordofan, particularly those that previously had SPLM-N membership.”

In the statement, HUDO calls upon the Sudan government to disclose the whereabouts of Bakheet and to allow family and lawyers to visit him. It also urges the Sudan government to end the State of Emergency in conflict areas which enables Military Intelligence to arrest civilians at will.

In conclusion, HUDO calls on the military authority in El Abbasiya to immediately release Bakheet or to transfer him to the courts of law if there is a genuine case against him.