Lawyers: Protestors accused of policeman’s murder subject to torture in Sudan’s Kober prison

The defence team of two young men, who were arrested on charges of killing a police brigadier in Khartoum in January, say that the detainees are being subjected “to the worst forms of torture by the Kober prison authorities”.

The defence team indicated in a statement that Mohamed El Fateh (18) was repeatedly taken at night from inside the notorious Kober prison to an unknown destination by individuals in civilian clothes. and returned later at night in a bad condition. The lawyers say that El Fateh is chained in a solitary cell, surrounded by sewage, and infested with mosquitos and scorpions.

The statement by the defence lawyers notes that his family and relatives are prevented from meeting him.

Mohamed Adam, nicknamed ‘Tubak’, and Mohamed El Fateh, nicknamed ‘El Nana’, have been held without charges since they were violently arrested on January 14 in Khartoum in connection with the stabbing Brig Ali Bereima during the January 13 Marches of the Millions.

For the first three weeks of their detention, they were held incommunicado without access to their families, lawyer, or a doctor. Throughout their detention, both activists were subjected to torture.

Tubak was arrested whilst he was in the hospital for treatment after he sustained two gunshot wounds in his leg during the January 13 Marches of the Millions.

In January, lawyer Iman Hasan told Radio Dabanga that the two detainees were questioned about the sources of funding behind the protests and about members of resistance committees, but not about the police brigadier they were accused of stabbing.

The authorities hold them responsible for the killing of Brig Bereima during the protests. Various Sudanese, however, reported on social media that Brig Ali Bereima was killed a week before. Others tweeted that the police officer was killed in the early morning of January 13, while the demonstrations started much later that day.

Lawyer Iman Hassan said in January that Adam was repeatedly beaten on his wounded leg whilst in detention and that El Fateh, originally from Wad Madani in El Gezira, was injured in the head and hand. She also reported that both had been subjected to severe beatings and electric shocks.

Tubak’s mother reported that she saw that two nails had been hammered into his legs, which had also been beaten whilst still injured from the gunshot wounds sustained at the protests. These injuries have left him unable to walk, Amnesty reported.

Tubak’s mother also said that her son had blood pressure issues but had not been allowed to see a doctor or take medications. Requests for the detainees to be examined by doctors were rejected, despite this being allowed according to Sudanese law.

In early March, Amnesty International launched a campaign in which they demand the release of the two men. At the time, Amnesty wrote that “there are credible concerns the youths were abducted and held without charge, in violation of their due process rights, and subjected to torture while in detention”.