Sudanese popular resistance calls for release of detained activists

Many activists and human rights lawyers have been arrested since the Darfuri student protests at the University of Khartoum on March 11. Girifna, a popular resistance movement, on Thursday released a report about the activists who are still being held. Though a number of activists arrested after the 11 March events have been released, others are still in detention: Hamdan Abdallah, a student at the University of Khartoum’s faculty of science who was arrested on 12 March next to the Central Dormitory. He was with student Ali Abakar Musa when he was shot and killed on March 11; Ashraf Mohamed Osman and Ghazi El Rayeh El Sanhouri, also detained on 12 March; Eisa Saleh Ibrahim and El Zubir Abdel Majeed, detained on 13 March.A source told Girifna that the number of detainees is unknown, because some students are in hiding as they fear long-term arrest. During the funeral procession of the murdered student Ali Abakar Musa on 12 March, human rights lawyer and member of the Darfur Bar Association (DBA) Abdel Aziz El Tom Ibrahim went missing. For five days his family and loved ones were left confused about whether he was arrested or not. The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) only informed his family that he was with them on 17 March.It is believed that the DBA lawyer is amongst at least ten people arrested when riot police attacked the procession with tear gas to disperse it.  On 18 March, four activists were arrested in Soug El Arabi. Three of them are from the Darfur Student Union Coalition. The fourth is a human rights lawyer and a DBA member. The arrest happened after a visit from the Darfur Students’ Association to the DBA offices, to discuss the ongoing conflict in Darfur and justice for murdered student Ali Abakar Musa. Those arrested were Ibrahim Salih Ibrahim Adam (Guevara), a graduate from Sudan University; El Sadig (Aflatoon), a student activist, University of Khartoum; Ahmad Ali Ahmad (Boko), a law student at the Nilein University, faculty of law, and El Radi Ali Ibrahim (Wad al Radi), a human rights lawyer working with the DBA in Nyala, South Darfur. Ahmad Ali Ahmad was released the following day. He told Girifna in an video testimony that he was interrogated specifically about the demands and the future plans of the Darfur Students’ Association. He also said that the security service was still targeting members of the Association and other student leaders cooperating with it. The NISS asked about specific names, adding that they probably intend to arrest them in the coming days. Some of those he mentioned were Mohamed Idris Jiddo and Mohamed Salah. On Wednesday March 19, Mohamed Idris Jiddo, an activist from El Fashir, North Darfur, was arrested. Jiddo was the head of the Darfur Students’ Association when he was a student at the University of Khartoum, and at present a member of the Coalition of Sudanese students. He was previously detained in late 2011 and early 2012. In the afternoon of 20 March, Mohamed Salah, a recent graduate of the University of Khartoum, was detained from Khartoum airport as he was about to leave the country to attend a workshop. Upon his arrest NISS was sending fake messages through his phone, to his mother assuring her that he has completed his paperwork and was boarding soon. However, his arrest was witnessed by his friends who contacted his family. Salah’s mother told Girifna that she fears that he may be tortured because he spoke at the memorial of the killed student Ali Abakar, earlier in the week. Salah was arrested before, for two months without charges or trial during the summer protests of 2012. ‘Human rights icon’ Girifna gives a detailed description of lawyer Abdel Munim Adam Mohamed who was arrested from his office in Soug El Arabi in downtown Khartoum on Thursday, 13 March. “Formally, and as known to the public, he is a lawyer, but to many of the people who knew him, he is a true human rights icon.” “Abdel Munim Adam grew up in White Nile state and studied law in El Imam El Mahdi University before coming to Khartoum with his family. As his degree did not satisfy his desire for knowledge, he began a postgraduate diploma in human rights law at the University of Khartoum but had to drop out because he barely had time to study because he was so engrossed in providing legal aid to those who could not afford it or did have access to it.” Two days before his arrest, he spent his day going from one police station to another searching for students who could have been arrested during the 11 March protests. “He is always one of the first lawyers to arrive at police stations to defend students, often spending long hours to bail them out, instead of doing commercial legal work to make ends meet.” Before his arrest, he was representing an activist who was detained and tortured for months by the NISS. “This same security apparatus got its hands on Abdel Munim Adam exactly for this reason, because he is not afraid to challenge them and take them to court for the violations they inflict upon Sudanese people in general, and activists in particular.” “According to article 48 of the Advocates Law of 1983 (amended in 2014), before a lawyer gets arrested, unless in the case of NISS cases or caught committing a crime, the arresting body needs to notify the lawyer’s syndicate, however, the new amendment states that you need a written agreement from the syndicate to be able to arrest a lawyer. On the other hand, the NISS as stated in the National Security Act (2010), is above the law and can arrest any individual under the pretext of national security.” “For years, NISS has arrested many lawyers for weeks at a time such as Abdel Rahman Gasim, Ramzi Yahya, Satie El Haj, Kamal Omer, and Tarig El Sheikh, among others. None of them was taken to court.” ‘We are fed up’Girifna, meaning “we are fed up”, was formed in October 2009 by university students. The popular resistance movement works for peaceful change in Sudan. Its members go to the streets and public places, asking citizens questions like: “Aren’t you fed up with the monopoly over political power by them?”, “Aren’t you fed up with the high cost of living?”, “Aren’t you fed up with the electricity and water shortages?”, and “Aren’t you fed up with what’s happening in Darfur?” Girifna uses street demonstrations, Radio Girifna, an online magazine, and public speeches and newsletters, to get its messages across. Its members have been beaten, abducted, and imprisoned by the security forces.  File photo: A Girifna poster calling for the release of lawyer Abdel Munim Adam Mohamed Related: ‘More than 15 Darfuri students and human rights activists detained’: Darfur Bar (21 March 2014) Sudan security arrests activist Mohamed Salah again (21 March 2014)