SPLM-N head Yasser Arman detained at Nairobi airport, after ‘Interpol Red Notice’ issued by Sudan govt.

The Secretary General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N), Yassir Arman, was detained by authorities on arrival in Kenya yesterday, on the pretext of an Interpol Red Notice* issued by the Sudanese government. The Red Notice accuses Arman of terrorism, sedition, incitement, and crimes against the state, and demands his extradition in Port Sudan. Arman and his organisation dismiss the charges as ‘fabricated’, and ‘a political issue’.

Arman was detained on Wednesday after landing at Jomo Kenyatta Airport, en route to meet with some Western diplomats in Nairobi, the leadership bureau of the SPLM-N says in a statement today seen by Radio Dabanga.

The movement explained that the authorities arrested Arman on the pretext of an Interpol Red Notice issued by “the Port Sudan authority”, based on a notice issued by the Port Sudan Central Police Station, headed by the department of international cooperation and human rights (Khartoum) to the international and regional criminal police organisation – General Directorate (Interpol).

The complaint is Dr Hisham Nourain Mohamed Nour on behalf of the Attorney General on Sudan, specifying many articles related to terrorism, sedition, incitement and crimes against the state and demanding the extradition of Arman to Port Sudan.

“These fabricated charges have been sought by the terrorist regime for many years targeting the chairperson of the movement,” the SPLM-N statement says. They confirm that the letter was sent to the General Directorate of Interpol, signed by Kamal Mahgoub Ahmed Saeed, and it was translated by the translation unit at the University of Khartoum.”

Arman was detained in the office of the Kenyan Interpol unit until Wednesday evening, during which time “he contacted many parties who spoke with the Interpol unit in Kenya, explaining to them that this is a political case and has nothing to do with Interpol and has nothing to do with terrorism or the articles and accusations mentioned in it.” The SPLM-N says that Interpol made arrangements to allow Arman to spend the night at a hotel in Nairobi.

* An Interpol Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. It is based on an arrest warrant or court order issued by the judicial authorities in the requesting country. Member countries apply their own laws in deciding whether to arrest a person.

At time of posting, no Red Notice had yet been registered on the official Interpol website.

Radio Dabanga has approached the Sudan government for comment.