Lawyer beaten, detained on duty in Sudan

A lawyer was beaten and detained while performing her duty at the police station in the capital of Red Sea state. Lawyers expressed their anger and filed a joint complaint on Friday.

Lawyer Salwa Thabit was with a client at the police station in Port Sudan on Thursday, where she was detained, for reasons that are still unclear. While incarcerated, Thabit was not allowed to break the daily fast of Ramadan from the evening until Friday morning.

Another lawyer, Najla Mohamed Ali, told Radio Dabanga that the police blocked information about Thabit’s presence and custody during that period.

Mohamed Ali has formed two defence bodies together with other lawyers and filed a complaint against a lieutenant and two soldiers who allegedly assaulted Thabit.

“The police notified the defence that no complaint has been filed against her. In that case I wonder about the justification for the detention of the lawyer.”

Case of Ibrahim

The state security prosecution has filed six counts of capital punishment against the detained human rights activist Dr Mudawi Ibrahim, among others for the staging of war against the state.

The state security prosecution referred the detained human rights activist Dr Mudawi to court after laying charges upon him which are punishable by death. The defence team reacted to the “nonsense charges”.

Lawyer Nabil Adeeb, head of the defence team, told Radio Dabanga he was surprised at the accusation “of a person who stages war against the state without carrying arms.

“The prosecutor charged Dr Mudawi three weeks ago. We have refrained from filing an appeal and demand the prosecution file the case to the court.”

Adeeb said the reason for the announcement of the new charges through Sudanese news agencies on Sunday is unclear, three weeks after the prosecution charged Dr Mudawi and other human rights defenders.

Dr Mudawi Ibrahim and his driver Hafiz Idris have been in detention by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) since 7 December last year. By the end of March, the prosecutor-general issued a decision to release Dr Mudawi on bail. Early May, however the attorney-general cancelled the decision. Recently the European Union and human rights watchdog Amnesty International has stressed that Dr Mudawi may face the death penalty or life imprisonment if he is convicted.

On 11 May, the State Security Prosecution in Khartoum filed criminal charges against them. Charges include undermining of the constitutional order, inciting war against the state, espionage, inciting hatred against denominations, being members of criminal and terrorist organisations, and dissemination of false news. Some of the charges are punishable by death.