Lawsuit against Sudan’s travel bans, passport confiscations

Sudanese lawyers and activists have filed a lawsuit against the government for the repeated travel bans and the seizure of passports or activists and opposition politicians.

The Sudanese authorities have issued a number of travel bans against opposition members and activists in the past months. In August, civil society activist Jalila Khamis was barred from travelling from Khartoum Airport to Cairo.

Later that month security services banned the president of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) and prominent member of the Sudan Call coalition leadership Omar El Digeir, from travelling to Paris. Also lawyer Abdallah El Doma, the chairman of the Darfur Bar Association and co-president of the NUP was stopped at the airport and his passport confiscated.

The secretary-general of the opposition NUP, Sarah Nugdallah was barred from leaving Sudan in August, and her passport was also confiscated. She had been prevented from travelling in May, too.

Passports of people have been seized “for a long time after the travel ban”, according to Nugdallah, speaking at a press conference of the party.

She expressed support to those people affected by the travel bans, which she called “violations of the right to free travel”. Nugdallah claimed that her passport has been repeatedly seized, “up to 70 times”.

The head of the SCP, Omar El Digeir, also criticised the authorities’ confiscation of passports for extended periods of time. “The authorities don’t provide an explanation of the reasons. He insisted on the need to face the constitutional violations with justice.