Human Rights Watch Accuses Sudanese Authorities of Harassment of Activists

The New- York based, Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday accused the Sudanese authorities of arresting and detaining both local and foreign human rights activists.

HRW cited a case on November 24 when the Sudanese authorities in Khartoum summoned three human rights activists, one of them a British national to the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) offices, where they were detained and questioned about their human rights activities.

HRW named the three arrested activists as Amir Suliman, Abdelmoneim Aljak and Osman Hummaida (a British national).

HWR said the security services have not charged any of the men with any crime. They were questioned only regarding their human rights activities, it adds.

“The Sudanese government is well-known for having little tolerance for criticism. This is part of a wider pattern of trying to silence those who support justice and to suppress information about the human rights situation in Sudan,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at HRW.

HRW said that over the last year, the Sudanese government has increasingly targeted those who have spoken out about human rights abuses, the situation in Darfur, or international justice.

“This harassment intensified considerably following the May 10 attack by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on the capital and the announcement by the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court on July 14 requesting an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide”, read a statement issued to the press in Nairobi.

The rights body said that journalists trying to publish articles about the situation in Darfur or the May 10 events and staff members of national NGOs working on these issues have been summoned and forced to censor any articles regarded as critical of the authorities.

Source African Press Agency

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