Sudan’s Deputy Chief Justice denounces ‘arbitrary arrests by NISS’

Sudan’s Deputy Chief Justice Abdulmajid Idris has spoken out against the “ongoing arbitrary arrests by the National Intelligence and Security Services.

Justice Idris criticised the long periods of detention without trial, and demanded that the NISS should only practice arrest and detention under the direct supervision of the judiciary.

Speaking in Khartoum  after meeting with the emergency committee to consider Sudan’s constitutional amendments, with the participation of members of the Constitutional Court and the Bar Association on Wednesday, Justice Idris said that “the security apparatus should not be left to do whatever it wants”.

'…the security apparatus should not be left to do whatever it wants…'

He expressed total rejection of the arrests to be made without any right.

Kabkabiya

On Wednesday, NISS agents arrested lawyers Mohammed Ahmed Abdelaziz Abu Bakar and Zakaria Mohammed from their office at Kabkabiya market in North Darfur and later released them after questioning.

Lawyer Abdelrahman Abdullah told Radio Dabanga that a group of intelligence agents in a vehicle raided the office of both lawyers at Kabkabiya market, took them to the military garrison, and interrogated them for two hours on charges involving crimes against the state, confiscated their mobile phones and released them at 3 pm on Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday morning a security force in El Gedaref held an employee of personnel affairs management at the Ministry of Health for five hours before releasing her later.

El Gedaref

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that employee Ikhlas Sayed Ahmed was taken from the headquarters of the ministry by a force of the security apparatus that forced her to ride their vehicle under threat and took her to the security services offices against the backdrop of stopping salaries of some employees said to have relations with the security services because of absence.

Witnesses expressed resent at the ongoing interventions of the security apparatus in El Gedaref State civil service.

They pointed to the arrest of a broadcasting employee earlier because of administrative problems within the institution where he works.

University

Security services arrested student Mohammed Ahmed of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Khartoum while escorting a patient at a hospital on Tuesday evening.

One of the student’s colleagues told Radio Dabanga that at around 8 pm on Tuesday, elements of the security apparatus arrested the student from in front of a hospital in Khartoum. They report that he was severely beaten by members of the security apparatus before they releasing him the same day.