South Kordofan MI release man after torture

The Sudanese Military Intelligence released a man from El Abbasiya after severely torturing him during his detention that lasted more than three months.

Mohamed Awad Bakheet, a 45-year-old trader at El Abbasiya market, was arrested by military intelligence (MI) agents on March 5. His whereabouts were unknown, the Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) reported at the time. Bakheet is a former member of the rebel SPLM-N in South Kordofan.

On June 7, Bakheet was released with severe torture scars and in a bad psychological condition. A doctor informed HUDO that the kind of scars seem to be a result of a leather whip saturated by sulfuric acid, which may be used by Sudanese MI to intensify the pain on the victim. The itching of the skin may last long.

He concluded that Bakheet was severely beaten or slashed on his back, denied medical care and psychologically harmed by racistic insults. Currently he suffers from the torture wounds – of which HUDO released photographic evidence – and scars, and his skin is itching severely. He is not able to lay on his back and sleep.

Arrest

Bakheit was arrested by the MI in El Abbasiya in connection with a deadly incident in South Kordofan. Lawyers said that there is no legal ground linking him to the incident, but he was held incommunicado and could not be accessed by his family or lawyers.

According to HUDO, the incident concerned the killing of three civilians in Kalinda in South Kordofan, reportedly by SPLM-N fighters.

Three others were arrested by MI in the same period, but released at the end of March.