Detained human rights defender allowed to receive family, doctor

The family of Dr Mudawi Ibrahim has been allowed to visit the detained human rights activist in Kober Prison in Khartoum on Thursday. After a brief suspension, Ibrahim continued his hunger strike until the Sudanese authorities release him or put him on trial.

“His brothers and I managed to meet him,” Sabah Mohamed Adam, a journalist and the wife of Dr Ibrahim, told Radio Dabanga yesterday. “It was the first time he was allowed to see a doctor who measured his blood pressure.”

A prison doctor told her that her husband is suffering of a drop in his blood pressure. “He looked pale and exhausted, but determined to continue the hunger strike until he will be released or bought to a court,” she said.

Dr Ibrahim agreed to suspend his hunger strike, which had lasted more than two weeks, when the authorities allowed members of his family to visit him this week. Yet, he has resumed his hunger strike to pressure his release or a legal court case.

Adam demanded from the Minister of Justice to immediately transfer Dr Ibrahim to the hospital where he can meet with his own doctor. she further demanded to release him immediately or bring him to court.

Dr Ibrahim was detained in early December along with his driver Adam El Sheikh from the campus of Khartoum University, where he lectures in engineering. He is also the founder and former director of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO), which works on human rights as well as water, sanitation and health. 

He initially embarked on a hunger strike on 22 January, demanding release or trial. He has been detained without charges.

Colleague strikes

Dr Ali Mohamed Ali Siouri, the assistant-professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, has announced to enter into a strike as of this Sunday for a week in protest of the continued detention of his colleague.

Dr Siouri said in his speech to the dean of the faculty on Wednesday that the hunger strike of Dr Ibrahim is threatening his health and called for his release or a fair trial.

Students of the Faculty of Engineering have held sit-ins and strikes of their studies in protest of the detention of their professor, a video showed last week.