Sudan’s security beats lawyers, files charges against Dr Madani

Security forces attacked members of the Sudanese Democratic Lawyers, holding a sit-in in front of the Khartoum District Court on Monday morning. Five people were detained. The security apparatus has filed charges against civil society leader and human rights lawyer Dr Amin Mekki Madani.

The lawyers protested against the detention of Dr Madani, and Faroug Abu Eisa, held by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) since 6 December.

“After we had gathered in front of the court at about 11 this morning, security forces surrounded the area, and prevented colleagues to join us,” Amal El Zein, one of the lawyers, reported to Radio Dabanga.

“We ran away after they began to beat us. Lawyers Bur’i El Tayeb,  Abdallah Mohamed Ahmed, and Suheir Saeed were detained, as well as two other citizens. El Tayeb was released a few hours later.”

Charged

The Khartoum government has filed charges against Farouk Abu Eisa, head of the National Consensus Forces (a coalition of opposition parties, and Dr Amin Mekki Madani, chairman of the Civil Society Initiative.

Abu Eisa and Madani were detained inside their homes in Khartoum after their return from Addis Ababa, where they had signed the Sudan Appeal, 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, and the establishment of democracy in Sudan.

Nemat Abdelmunim, the wife of Dr Madani, said that the charges were filed “to have an excuse to keep them detained”, Hurriyat electronic newspaper reported today (Monday).

The head of the defence team, El Tayeb Haroun, had told her that NISS officers had officially notified him about the charges against her husband, and that his case was transferred to the state security prosecutor.

She furthermore said that a NISS agent phoned her son, Walid Amin, on Sunday night, telling him that his father was transferred to Kober Prison in Khartoum North.

“This was the first time in more than two weeks that we received information where he is held. We requested permission to visit him today, but the security officers referred us to the management of Kober Prison.”