Red Sea state prosecutor denies Darfur omdas are in Port Sudan prisons

The prosecution service in Sudan’s Red State has denied the presence of Rizeigat tribal leaders in Port Sudan prisons.

A member of the defence of the omdas, lawyer Hasan Abdelmajid told Radio Dabanga that the defence has filed a request to the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and the Attorney General to allow them to visit 18 of the Rizeigat omdas out of the 23 who were arrested in East Darfur at the end of July.

The 18 of were transferred to the prisons of Port Sudan and the rest to El Hoda prison in Omdurman at the beginning of August.

After fierce fighting erupted between Rizeigat and Maaliya tribesmen in East Darfur in July, the authorities started an unprecedented detention campaign against their leaders. Khartoum recently adopted a new, strict policy to end tribal clashes by holding tribal leaders who encourage attacks on the other tribes responsible for their actions.

The Attorney General asked the Red Sea Attorney to notify the authorities there to confirm the presence of the detainees in the prisons of Port Sudan, but he delayed his reply.

Defence team denied access

He explained that members of the defence team travelled to Port Sudan and met the prosecutor who told them he does not know of the presence of the omdas in the prisons of Port Sudan.

He said that as a result they were unable to visit them; they described the action as illegal and that the rights of the 18 omdas to meet their lawyers were being violated.

He confirmed that the defence is in contact with the Attorney General once again to enable them to visit the omdas in the prisons of Port Sudan

On Tuesday morning a number of political forces carried out a protest in downtown Khartoum near the UN offices in solidarity with student Asim Omar and other political detainees.

The Sudanese Congress Party, the National Consensus Forces Coalition, the SPLM, the Sudanese Baath and the Campaign of Women Against injustice issued a joint statement in solidarity with the detainees.

The protesters held banners calling for the release of the detainees.