Sudan: Abu Eisa ‘unbroken by detention’, Madani also in hospital

Dr Amin Mekki Madani, chairman of the Civil Society Initiative, has been transferred from Kober prison to a hospital in Khartoum. A delegation of leaders of the National Consensus Forces (NCF, a coalition of opposition parties) who visited NCF head Faroug Abu Eisa in Khartoum’s El Sahiroun hospital, found him in “high spirits”.

Abubakar Yousef Babiker, the spokesman for the National Consensus Forces (NCF, an alliance of opposition parties) told Dabanga that when a delegation of NCF leaders went to visit Dr Madani in the federal Kober prison in Khartoum North on Monday, they were informed that he was taken to a hospital.

“The delegation then proceeded to see Faroug Abu Eisa, who was hospitalised on 3 February. They found him in high spirits, despite his weak health condition, resulting from his erratic blood pressure.

“Abu Eisa told the delegation, comprised of Ibrahim El Sheikh, Mohamed Mukhtar El Khateeb, Ahmed Shaker, and Jamal Idris Faroug, to hold on to what has been achieved so far by the unified civilian and rebel opposition forces, and proceed with their efforts to bring down the one-party regime and realise democracy in Sudan.”

Abu Eisa, Dr Madani, and Farah El Agar, legal consultant of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, were detained by security officers in Khartoum on 6 December, after their return from Addis Ababa. Abu Eisa and Madani had signed the Sudan Appeal in the Ethiopian capital three days before, together with the Sudan Revolutionary Front, an alliance of the main rebel movements, and the National Umma Party. In the document, the allied opposition forces call for a peaceful regime change in Sudan.

The three detainees were held incommunicado until 22 December, when they were transferred to Kober Prison. An officer of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) notified the head of the defence team of Abu Eisa and Madani, Omar Abdelaati, that they were charged with undermining of the constitutional order and instigating war against the state, offences that carry the death penalty or life imprisonment.

On Sunday, however, Mustafa Osman Ismail, chair of the ruling National Congress Party’s Political Sector, told the press in Khartoum that Abu Eisa and Madani were involved in a plot aimed at sabotaging the upcoming national elections.

Defence lawyer Abdelaati strongly denied these statements to Dabanga, stressing that the opposition leaders are facing charges based on their signing of the Sudan Appeal. He intends to file a complaint against the NCP official.