Sudanese human rights defender barred from travelling abroad

Officers of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) barred Dr Amin Mekki Madani, human rights defender and chairman of the Civil Society Initiative, from travelling to Egypt today.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a representative of the Civil Society Initiative (CSI, a coalition of Sudanese civil society organisations and groups reported that NISS officers at Khartoum International Airport prevented Madani from travelling to Cairo.

“After he completed all travel formalities at the airport, they told him that he is blacklisted by the NISS, and should turn to the competent security office in Khartoum to discuss this,” he said.

The source said that Madani was on his way to Cairo for treatment of his kidney disease. “Currently he needs to undergo kidney dialysis continuously.”

He described the move as “a serious violation of human rights, the Sudanese laws and the Interim Constitution”.

Last week, Madani was elected president of the newly established Sudanese Civil Society Organisations Federation.

Paris

Dr Madani was detained by the NISS in December 2014 for signing the Sudan Appeal, a political communiqué calling for regime-change, together with the Sudan Revolutionary Front rebel alliance, the National Umma Party, and the National Consensus Forces (NCF, a coalition of opposition parties) in Addis Ababa on 3 December that year.

NCF head Faroug Abu Eisa and Farah El Agar, legal consultant of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) were also detained. On 9 April 2015, the Minister of Justice ordered their immediate release.

The Sudan Appeal forces are travelling to Paris this week to attend a series of meetings that will commence next Sunday. The spokesman for the political forces supporting the Sudan Appeal, Mohamed Faroug, was summoned by NISS officers in Khartoum concerning the planned meetings in the French capital.