Detentions continue in Sudan – reports of beatings and torture

The Democratic Lawyers Front of Sudan reports that Mohamed El Hadi, a leading member of the Empowerment Removal Committee* in Singa, capital of Sennar state in Sudan, has been subjected to brutal torture at the prison of the Military Intelligence in the Singa garrison since his detention on October 26.

The lawyers pointed to the deterioration of his health as a result of the continuous torture, alleging that the intelligence service is trying to force him to provide them with documents belonging to the Empowerment Removal Committee.

In South Darfur, the Democratic Lawyers Alliance organised a protest sit-in in front of the Nyala Criminal Court on Monday, rejecting the military coup and in solidarity with the political detainees in the state, especially jurists.

Lawyer Salaheldin El Nour told Radio Dabanga that they submitted requests to the state security committee to release the detainees, without receiving a response. The vigils will continue until their demands are met.

The number of detainees in Nyala Prison has risen to 34 after the detention of four teachers, four lecturers of Nyala University, along with Resistance Committees members.

El Nour said that 11 detainees in the Central Nyala Police Station have been referred to trial after complaints about rioting were opened against them.

He explained that the detainees in Nyala Prison live in poor humanitarian conditions, with the lack of the most basic rights, and pointed out that a number of them suffer from chronic diseases with the lack of appropriate care.

In North Kordofan, Nozeifa Awad, a member of the Central Sudanese Doctors Committee, reported that she was subjected to verbal and physical harassment and beatings during her detention last week in the state capital El Obeid by regular forces.

She explained in the Radio Dabanga’s Sudan Today programme that she was detained while waiting near the police station for colleagues bailing a number of detainees.

Her clothes were lifted and parts of her body were exposed while being beaten. She indicated that a number of malicious complaints were opened against her and she remained in custody for hours before being released on bail. She noted that obstacles were presented when she attempted to open a complaint against the officer who beat her.

On Monday evening, the authorities detained the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Khartoum. Several Sudanese universities have suspended studies indefinitely for security reasons since Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan and a military junta seized power in a coup d’état on October 25.

* Empowerment (tamkin) is the term with which the ousted government of Omar Al Bashir supported its affiliates in state affairs by granting them far-going privileges, including government functions and the setting-up of various companies. The Committee for Dismantling the June 30 1989 Regime, Removal of Empowerment and Corruption, and Recovering Public Funds was formed in November 2019 with the aim to purge Sudan from the remnants of the Al Bashir regime. Since then, the committee has been instrumental in breaking the party’s grip on the political scene and state resources.

Following the coup on October 25, various members of the Empowerment Removal Committee have been detained. Vice-President of the Sovereignty Council and Commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ has reportedly been offered the chairmanship of the Empowerment Removal Committee after the coup, but refused.