Justice Africa Sudan: Detainee tortured in South Kordofan

A man held by the South Kordofan police at the market of El Abbasiya Tagali was brutally tortured, according to Justice Africa Sudan.

In a press statement on Thursday, the Sudanese NGO reported that Adam Yagoub was held by policemen at the El Abbasiya Tagali market on October 27.

After beating him “in front of everyone at the market”, he was taken away for questioning. The reason for the detention is not clear.

In custody, he was tortured and a bottle was entered into his rectum. Later he was transferred, bleeding, to a hospital in the neighbourhood, where a doctor treated him, and recorded his injury.

After Yagoub was released on bail, lawyers wanted to file an official complaint. Yet the police refused to accept the complaint, saying that they enjoy immunity from prosecution.

The lawyers should request permission from the authorities in the South Kordofan capital of Kadugli for raising a complaint against them.

Justice Africa Sudan condemns such practices in the strongest terms, and urges the Sudanese prime minister and the Minister of Interior Affairs to remove the immunity from the policemen involved, so that the offenders can be brought to justice.

The NGO further calls on the government “to immediately start reforming all laws governing the police and security organs” and “to establish independent watchdogs to investigate complaints of the public”.

Tortured to death

The court case against the security officers accused of torturing teacher Ahmed El Kheir to death in eastern Sudan’s Kassala in early February is still ongoing.

El Kheir was detained in his home in Khashm El Girba in Kassala after he joined an anti-government demonstration on January 31. On February 2, he died in detention. His brother said that the family received the body with signs of torture and beatings over his entire body: “The hands, the stomach, the back, the kidneys, and the anus showed signs of bruising.”

A demonstrator who was detained together with the teacher, stated he saw security agents ask the teacher to remove his trousers. “When he resisted, two of the security men lifted him and put a stick into his anus.” He added that the victim did not receive anything in the detention centre except for a little water.

The teacher’s death and other reports about people tortured to death in detention led to fierce reactions and many protests in the country.

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