V. Harassment, Detention, and Torture of Human Rights Activists

Since late 2008, the government of Sudan, using detention and ill-treatment including torture, has increased its harassment and intimidation of Sudanese human rights activists who have spoken out about human rights abuses or in support of justice for the victims in Darfur. In particular, the government appears to be targeting individuals it suspects of speaking out in support of the work of the International Criminal Court.

In November, the government arrested, detained, and tortured well-known Sudanese human rights activists in Khartoum. On November 24, 2008 the NISS in Khartoum summoned three men to the NISS political section in Khartoum North: Amir Suliman, chairperson of the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights and Environmental Development (KCHRED), and Osman Hummaida and Abdelmoneim Aljak, both human rights campaigners who work as consultants to civil society and nongovernmental organizations. All three have participated in awareness-raising campaigns on justice and accountability, and have spoken out against ongoing human rights violations in Sudan. All three have previously been detained because of their human rights activities.

Security officials released Amir Suliman the same day at 10.30 p.m., but then summoned him again and briefly detained him the following evening. They released Abdelmoneim Aljak early on November 25, re-arrested him on November 26, and finally released him late that same night. They kept Osman Hummaida in custody until November 27, although he was hospitalized twice during that period to treat a health condition.[1]

The security service did not charge any of the men with any crime. However, they questioned the three men repeatedly regarding their human rights activities and their support for justice for the victims in Darfur. During their time in detention NISS officers tortured both Aljak and Hummaida.

Abdelmoneim Aljak-in an open letter to Salah Gosh, Director General of Sudanese Security and Intelligence-described how NISS officers beat him during interrogation. He reported how one officer had given orders to four others to beat him:

Pointing to where precisely on my body they should direct their blows, and with what instrument, spilling water on my head, kicking my face with his shoe and pointing his cigarette at my eye, saying he would blind me… He tried to threaten me by ordering his soldiers to rape me.[2]

Osman Humaida described to Human Rights Watch how security officials tortured Aljak in front of him, then proceeded to beat Humaida himself. On November 26, on Humaida's third day of detention, he was taken to a room his interrogators called the "dark room" and Abdelmoneim Aljak was brought in:

They took me to [an office in NISS political section] where I again saw Abdelmoneim. He was on the floor and they were beating him with piping. He seemed to be unconscious. [An NISS officer] kicked him in his face and I saw the blood gushing from his mouth… I thought he was dead. [Later] They took me back to the dark room where I had first seen Abdelmoneim. They asked me to sit on the floor and they started beating me on the feet and the knees and the legs with piping and saying: you will soon be like your friend.[3]

Sudanese authorities continue to harass those who they believe to support the ICC. On December 29, 2008, security forces in Khartoum arrested Ali Mahmoud Hassanein, the Vice President of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). They did not charge Hassanein with any crime, but interrogated him at length, specifically over his suspected support for the ICC, and threatened him with death should he speak out again.[4]

Authorities have also intimidated displaced people and others in Darfur from speaking out in support of the ICC. On January 19, 2009 the government of Sudan security chief in West Darfur warned chiefs of local communities and displaced people in camps that any demonstration by any group in support of a warrant for President Bashir would be "met with live bullets."[5]