Sudanese Congress Party leader moved to Khartoum hospital

On Sunday, the chairman of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP), Ibrahim El Sheikh, has been transferred from En Nahud prison in West Kordofan to Burri hospital in Khartoum, after his health began to deteriorate significantly. The SCP chairman was detained on 8 June by security forces in En Nahud, on charges of undermining the Sudanese Constitution, after he had publicly denounced the widespread attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on civilians in Darfur and Kordofan. The SCP announced later that their leader had expressed the official party opinion. A first hearing of the case against El Sheikh was planned to take place on 12 June in the court of En Nahud. The prosecutor, however, said that the file against their client had been taken by the security apparatus, “in order to add new details”. The head of the defence team, Sati El Haj, explained to Radio Dabanga at the time that the aim of the security apparatus is to keep the head of the SCP detained as long as possible. The charges filed against El Sheikh are punishable by the death penalty, and do not allow for the release of the accused on bail. File photo: SCP chairman Ibrahim El Sheikh Related: West Kordofan: Detained party leader’s health deteriorating (14 July 2014)