Sudan Emergency Lawyer detained on ‘fabricated charges’ of murdering a protester

On July 22, security forces detained Emergency Lawyers member Saleh Bushra while he was working on defending the case of the murdered resistance committee member Abubakr Mutasim Ismail. He was charged with murdering the protester. Online, activists condemned the 'fabricated charges' against Bushra and demand the release of the lawyer and human rights defender.

The Emergency Lawyers said that Saleh Bushra, one of the most prominent members of the coalition, was held at a mortuary in Omdurman on Thursday where he was working on the legal procedures for lodging an official complaint against the killing of protester Abubakr Ismail earlier that day.

The lawyer was charged with killing the martyr Abubakr Ismail even though he was only present in the mortuary to monitor the autopsy procedures on the martyr's body as part of the legal process to file a complaint against the killing.

Lawyers can follow autopsies to make sure that the correct procedures are followed and the cause of death is reported honestly.

In a press statement on Saturday, the Emergency Lawyers strongly condemned the “fabricated charges” against Saleh and called for his immediate release. 

Abdelwahid El Nur, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW), also condemned the detention and demanded "freedom for the lawyer and human rights defender".

Abubakr Mutaism Ismail was killed by security forces during demonstrations in Omdurman last week. The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors reported that Ismail, nicknamed Gheima (cloud), was hit by live ammunition in the chest. “With this, the total number of our martyrs [in Khartoum] after the coup of October 25 [last year] reached 115,” the doctors stated at the time.