Sudan junta releases select detainees – many still imprisoned

The military junta in Sudan has released several high-profile detainees, however lawyers in Khartoum report that several ministers, politicians, and activists are still imprisoned. Omar El Degeir, head of the Sudanese Congress Party, Ali El Sanhouri, head of the Baath party, former rebel leader and political advisor to the prime minister Yasir Arman, and Siddig El Mahdi, a leading member of the National Umma Party, were released yesterday.

Their release follows a political agreement signed in Khartoum on Sunday by Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, leader of the military junta that seized power in a coup d’état on October 25, and Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, to return the country to democratic transition in terms of the Constitutional Document, that stipulates the release of all political detainees. However dozens of people, including ministers, politicians, and activists, are still in detention.

Lawyers from Khartoum reported that a number of participants who were detained during the Sunday demonstrations are still being held at the Mogran police station in Khartoum, while the women were moved to Omdurman Women’s Prison.

In White Nile state, sources in Kosti reported the detention of an employee of the Bank of Khartoum and an activist. In Blue Nile state, the authorities detained four activists on Monday.

Volker Perthes, head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), said in a tweet on that all detainees must be released immediately if the political agreement must be taken seriously. UNITAMS initially welcomed the signing of the agreement on Sunday.