Protestor still held incommunicado in Sudan capital

A man who was arrested by security services in Omdurman a month ago is still being held by Sudanese security services. His family demanded that the security services immediately release him or give him a fair trial.

Relatives of Yagoub Abdelmowla told Radio Dabanga that he was arrested by agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) at the Libya market in Omdurman on the grounds that he and others had distributed posters and statements critical of the regime across Omdurman during the commemoration of the martyrs of September 2013.

He explained that Abdelmowla is now being held in Khartoum and that the security apparatus has only once allowed a visit to his family during the period of his detention.

September 2013

Sudanese authorities responded with a violent crackdown to large-scale protests that swept the country following the announcement of austerity measures on 22 September 2013, with security forces and armed men allied to them using live ammunition, tear gas, and batons.

As many as 185 protesters and other civilians were killed, most of them shot in the head or chest, ACJPS and AI found in a joint studypublished in September 2014. Hundreds were injured and more than 800 others arrested, some held for weeks. Research by HRW showed that many detainees were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, that many journalists and human rights defenders were beaten, and female protesters were sexually assaulted by security forces.