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Government response to the JEM attacks

Arbitrary Arrest and Detention

In the weeks following the JEM attack, Sudanese authorities have arrested hundreds of individuals. Human Rights Watch interviews with released detainees and family members of those still unaccounted for has produced a list of more than 200 names of people detained by NISS during this time.  Some former detainees estimate the total number may be as high as 3,000. NISS officers arrested men, women and children in house-to-house searches, on public transport, on the street, and at checkpoints set up by police and security forces around Khartoum.

Accounts from local residents indicate that the vast majority of those detained were individuals who are or appear to be from Darfuri ethnic groups, mainly the Zaghawa ethnic group, which form the majority within JEM.

An eyewitness, 45, told Human Rights Watch that he saw more than 100 people, who appeared to be mainly from Darfur, being taken away from public transport and private vehicles at checkpoints:

There was a checkpoint every 50 to 100 meters and at every checkpoint I saw so many people being pulled from public transport and cars — about 100 or so in total — and made to sit on the ground with their hands up. The only basis they used when arresting people was the fact that they appeared to be from Darfur, not on evidence of any crime they committed. ¹⁰

Among those arrested were persons with suspected or known links to the opposition Popular Congress party and to Darfur rebel groups. The leader of the Popular Congress, Hassan al-Turabi, and several party members were arrested in the early hours of May 12.  Hassan al-Turabi was eventually released; however, the whereabouts of the majority of those arrested are unknown.

Arbitrary arrest and detention are prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Sudan is a party.¹¹ Arrests are arbitrary, for instance, when carried out for a discriminatory reason such as membership of an ethnic group, or in violation of existing legal procedures.¹² Persons taken into custody must be informed at the time of the reasons for the arrest. They are entitled to have access to counsel as soon as possible. They must be promptly charged before a judge or other authorized judicial officer, and able to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court.¹³ If charged they are entitled to a fair trial before a competent, independent and impartial court.¹⁴ Children must only be detained as a last resort and for the shortest possible period of time.¹⁵ In the majority of cases of detention that Human Rights Watch investigated, the arresting authorities have failed to indicate the legal basis for the detention. Those who were released told Human Rights Watch that they were accused generally of participating in the attack by JEM but without specific allegations.

Disappearances and Incommunicado Detention

Many relatives of arrested or “disappeared” individuals reported to Human Rights Watch that they have been unable to get information on the whereabouts of their loved ones, and that the authorities have refused to acknowledge that they are in detention.

Under international law, an enforced disappearance occurs when government authorities arrest or detain an individual, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the person or acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty. In addition to the right to liberty, disappearances raise particular concerns about torture and other mistreatment, and the right to life.¹⁶

According to one woman:

[On May 11] the NISS came into the house without any warning.… They took my husband and two nephews. We didn’t know where they were taken to. We tried to find them. We went to so many police stations and prisons and saw so many people there but no one would tell us anything and whether they have them or not.

On May 17, the authorities called the woman to collect her husband and nephews from the military prison in Karrari, northern Omdurman. All three had been badly beaten.¹⁷

Many of those arrested were picked up in public locations, such as public transport and the street, and had no opportunity to inform relatives of what had happened.

One former detainee told Human Rights Watch:

On May 12, I was on the bus on my way to work in Al Souq Al Sha’bi [Popular market] in Omdurman when the bus was stopped by the NISS forces. I was on the bus with a work colleague and the NISS officer told the two of us to get off the bus. We were the only two from Darfur. When we got off the bus they asked us for our identity cards – neither of us had any. The NISS officers told us to get into the car, and took us to the NISS headquarters. I was in detention for over a week and no one knew where I was¹⁸

Many individuals remain in incommunicado detention or are “disappeared,” according to lawyers, activists and family members who are attempting to trace them. A relative of one detainee told Human Rights Watch:

We've been to almost all the police stations and NISS offices in city; we went to Omdurman, Khartoum North and Khartoum and no one would help us. I know [the NISS] have arrested him but they refused to tell us that they have him in detention.¹⁹

The government is reported to have transferred an unknown number of detainees to locations outside Khartoum, such as Shandi to the north of the capital and Port Sudan in eastern Sudan.

Relatives who have tried to locate detainees, contacted the media or NISS Information Office about them, have themselves been harassed by NISS and risked being arrested. Abdelshakur, a lawyer from the Zaghawa ethnic group, was arrested at his office in Omdurman by the NISS Special Unit on May 14. His family has not been able to get a response or any information from the NISS about his whereabouts. On one occasion, his brother was detained for three hours at the NISS Information Office where he went to get information about Abdelshakur. Abdelshakur’s wife told Human Rights Watch:

My husband was arrested on May 14. We tried to find him and we went to the [NISS Information Office] to find out where he is, but they wouldn’t tell us anything or even if they have him in detention. We went a few times to keep checking and every time we went we didn’t get a response. On Saturday, May 17, at around 11 p.m. [the NISS] came into our house without any warning. They came in two vehicles with three officers in civilian clothes (NISS) and 15 soldiers (army). One of the soldiers had jumped over the wall on the side of the house and other came through front and backdoors. They took my mobile and they questioned everyone who was in the house separately while searching the house. They asked us a lot of questions and accused us of being rebels. …  We still don’t know where Abdelshakur is and what has happened to him.²⁰

Since speaking to Human Rights Watch, Abdelshakur’s wife, Zubaida, was herself arrested by the NISS. On June 8, 2008, around 2 p.m., NISS officers arrested Zubaida, her sister and her nine-month-old son. The family has attempted to trace their whereabouts, too, but has had no response from the authorities.

International human rights standards in relation to detention provide that authorities should inform families of the whereabouts of those detained.²¹ However only when the authorities intended to release detainees — after more than a week in detention for most — did they allow them to contact their relatives.

Torture and Ill-treatment of Detainees, and Inhumane Conditions

Torture

Several released detainees told Human Rights Watch that they had been beaten, tortured and otherwise mistreated while in detention.

Most detainees were initially taken to a police station, and in some cases moved between several locations, including NISS offices and secret detention centers before being taken to Karrari military prison.

Detainees released from the military prison told Human Rights Watch that the NISS officers severely beat them with metal poles and used “stress positions” and other methods of torture as part of the interrogation.

A 15-year-old student from the Zaghawa ethnic group told Human Rights Watch:

I was arrested at my home with my uncle and cousin on May 11 late in the afternoon. We were taken to the 10^th District police station. There I was badly beaten. There were three people beating me up. They were kicking me and hitting me with a black plastic water pipe. I was also made to kneel on my knees and put my hands up against the wall for about an hour and they were hitting the soles of my feet. They were shouting at me “Are you a rebel?” and continued to beat me. After the beating I couldn’t move my shoulder, it became very stiff and I was completely bruised. They moved us after 1-2 hours to another police station and another before going to NISS headquarters and then the military prison in Karrari.²²

A 25-year-old ethnic Massalit man who was held in Karrari military prison for over one week before being released told Human Rights Watch:

On May 11 at 8 a.m. an NISS Special Unit force of nine people in two vehicles entered the house without warning. They started to hit us and some of them used sticks to beat us. They tied our hands to our backs using a rope and drove us to the police station. Once we arrived, they bound our feet and hands using rope for 10 hours. We were asked what type of firearms we had, whether we are linked with JEM among other accusations without waiting for a response and proceeded to beat us up while being tied up.

 A 22-year-old man from the Bergo Silihab ethnic group interviewed by Human Rights Watch said:

During [the six days in detention] some people were taken away for questioning and were tortured, and some of them never came back. One of the methods used to torture people was to make them balance on their knees and elbows on the concrete floor out in the sun for hours.

Inhumane conditions in detention

Those in the military prison told Human Rights Watch that they were held in severely overcrowded cells. The prison is described as being composed of several buildings. In one of the buildings, the area was divided into around ten cells each measuring 8 by 12 meters with around 200 people in each cell, allowing no space to lie down. The cells did not have sanitation except for a few buckets. Detainees received water once a day and sometimes not at all; daytime temperatures in Khartoum regularly reach over 40 degrees Celsius at this time of year. Detainees released from Karrari report that in the days immediately following the attack prisoners were dying at the rate of approximately two per day because of beatings by NISS officers, poor conditions of detention or lack of medical attention.

A released detainee told Human Rights Watch:

I was arrested on the Sunday [May 11] around 5.30 p.m. and was given water only the following day at around 4 p.m. When we went to drink the water a man dropped dead because he was so thirsty, and after that we saw many people die everyday because of the conditions in detention.²³

A 22-year-old man held in the military prison for six days said:

Every day two to three people die in the prison because of lack of food and water or the torture. There was one man in our cell who had a gunshot wound to the leg, but he was not treated and he stayed in prison with his injuries.²⁴

The treatment described by eyewitnesses constitutes torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, which is prohibited under both Sudanese²⁵ and international law.²⁶  Governments have an obligation under international law to investigate and prosecute serious violations of physical integrity. The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors the compliance of state parties to the ICCPR, has stated that governments not only have a duty to protect their citizens from such violations, but also to investigate violations when they occur and to bring the perpetrators to justice.²⁷

The Sudanese government has failed to investigate any security officials or police officers for their role in the torture, mistreatment and abuse of detainees arrested in connection with the JEM attack.

Detention of Children

According to Sudanese government statements, 89 children were amongst those arrested following the May 10 attack. Pictures purported to be of JEM captives were shown on May 11 on the state television. Most of them showed signs of being beaten, and some appeared to be under 18 years of age.

On May 27, 2008 the Anti-Terrorism Unit, part of the Ministry of Justice, published an advertisement in Akbar Alyoum newspaper calling for the families of JEM child soldiers captured by the Sudanese authorities to come forward. The advertisement included the pictures of 86 children, some as young as 11, with their full names, date of birth, place of birth, address, ethnicity and nationality.²⁸ It is not likely that many family members or relatives will come forward in fear of being arrested, which will make tracing much more difficult. UNICEF had access to the 89 children detained, aged between 10 and 17, confirmed that they are in good health and condemned JEM’s use of child soldiers²⁹. JEM has denied that it has used child combatants during the attack.³⁰

Human Rights Watch also received reports that additional children as young as 8-years-old are being held in detention, including in the military prison in Karrari.

The 15-year-old Zaghawa student formerly detained in Karrari told Human Rights Watch:

In the police stations there were other people who were around my age, also in the military prison. There were 57 [children] in the military prison, the youngest being eight years old. I was kept in the same cell as other adults…. I was released on May 18.³¹

There are specific provisions in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) — to which Sudan is a state party — that protect children under 18 from arbitrary arrest and detention³² and guarantee the right to fair trial.³³ The CRC states that children should only be detained as a last resort, and specific protection should be provided for children in detention:

Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age. In particular, every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child's best interest not to do so and shall have the right to maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional circumstances.³⁴

Sudan is obliged to provide family members with essential information on the child’s whereabouts and well-being.³⁵

Sudan is also party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The protocol prohibits the participation of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict, and requires the government to provide former child soldiers with “all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration.”³⁶ The Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (Paris Principles), a set of international guidelines adopted in February 2007 by 58 governments including Sudan, provides guidance for the release, protection, and reintegration of children who have been used as soldiers. The Paris Principles state that children who have been associated with armed forces or armed groups should not be prosecuted, punished, or threatened with prosecution or punishment solely for their membership in these forces or groups. They state that the release, protection, and reintegration of children unlawfully recruited or used must be sought at all times, without condition, and that the majority of children should be returned to their family and community as soon as possible after release.³⁷

Fair Trial

In a briefing to Parliament on June 9, the Minister of Justice, Abdul-Basit Sabdarat, announced that trials will begin within a week to prosecute some of those accused of taking part in the JEM attacks. In his briefing, Sabdarat outlined that five Special Courts were set up to try the first 57 of 197 defendants currently in his custody under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act at the first instance.³⁸

A human rights lawyer told Human Rights Watch:

According to [the Minister of Justice’s] statement, the trials are reportedly due to start in less than a week. However, we do not know what the Special Courts’ structures are or who will preside over them. We haven’t even been given the name of the defendants, let alone been allowed to meet them.³⁹

Among the criteria necessary to ensure a fair trial is the right to have the adequate time and facilities to prepare one’s defense.⁴⁰

Censorship of Media and Persecution of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders

Following the attack by JEM forces on the capital the Sudanese government has been attempting to suppress criticism of the government’s role during the attack. Authorities have also harassed journalists and human rights defenders.

There had already been a marked increase in censorship since the attempted coup on N’Djamena, Chad in February 2008. This was widely covered in the Sudanese press, which highlighted the Sudanese government’s alleged links to the attempted coup.  On February 6, 2008, the NISS closed several newspapers, and began harassment and intimidation of media personnel.

In April 2008, several daily newspapers — both Arabic and English — such as Al-Sudani and The Citizen were suspended and some printed copies we confiscated, causing them substantial financial loss.⁴¹ The government also re-introduced procedures, which had been used before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, requiring newspapers to send an advanced copy of each edition to the media section of the NISS for approval prior to publication, and allocating an NISS officer to each paper. Newspapers cannot cover issues the government holds to be controversial. Some of topics that are considered sensitive are Darfur, criticism of NISS, the armed forces or the president, Abyei and discussion on dam projects in northern Sudan.

Since May 10, censorship has intensified. Newspapers have not been able to report fully on the arrests that have been taking place in the capital or the recent fighting that took place in Abyei in May 2008, which lies on the border of north and south Sudan and was given administrative status under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,⁴² which according to UN reports led to the destruction of the town and the displacement of more than 50,000 people⁴³.

On May 14, the Sudanese authorities raided the offices of Al-Alwan newspaper, an Arabic daily. Their offices were closed and all their equipment confiscated under orders by the NISS. This followed the publication of an article that the NISS claimed was sensitive and posed a danger to national security. The article related to the disappearance of a MiG-29 fighter plane along with its Russian pilot during the May 10 events.⁴⁴

The editor of a daily newspaper told Human Rights Watch:

We can’t write anything that is significant or critical. On May 16 we couldn’t even issue our newspapers because they removed so many articles. How are we supposed to report what is happening in the country?⁴⁵ 

Many journalists are forced to avoid writing or being critical about issues regarded as sensitive by the authorities or face being summoned or detained. A journalist with an Arabic daily was summoned by the NISS after he uploaded articles that NISS media censors had removed from newspapers to a Sudanese website.

They started the questioning at around 2.30 p.m. which lasted until the evening. After the questioning I was given around 15 documents, which were various declarations, one of which stated that I will not publish any articles online anymore and that I should not write about May 10 events or their aftermath for three weeks. I was released without charge [the next day] at 2.30 a.m.⁴⁶

An activist involved in efforts to provide legal services to detainees told Human Rights Watch about the many challenges and difficulties facing lawyers, journalists and other activists attempting to shed light upon the crackdown in the capital and possibly other parts of the country.

We had a press conference on May 24 to announce the establishment of the committee. We had good coverage and a lot of media, national and international, attended. However, NISS media censors stopped newspapers from publishing any information about the press conference so no one in Sudan knew about it and victims and their families are none the wiser about how we want to help them.⁴⁷ 

Targeting and Harassment of Human Rights Defenders

Human rights defenders told Human Rights Watch that security agents were harassing and intimidating them, particularly those from Darfur. Those interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they lived in terror — they were being followed, their movements monitored and their phones tapped.

A 26-year-old human rights activist informed Human Rights Watch that he did not feel safe going to his home after receiving several threatening calls and experiencing an attempted abduction.

After I left the office I got a bus to Omdurman. On the way there is a secluded section of the road and at that point around 11.30 p.m. two white cars (GIAD) stopped the bus, one in front and one at the back. In the front car there were three people and in the other there were two. They were all wearing civilian clothes. Three of them came onto the bus and told the driver that they are looking for fugitives. They asked everyone for their identity cards and when I took out my identity card one of them who were standing outside the bus snatched it through the window.

Then they ordered me to go outside, I was the only one who was asked to do so. Outside they told me: “We know what you are doing.” One of them was keeping hold of my arm and they told me to get into the front car. At that point three to four people from the neighborhood started to walk towards us thinking it was a fight that was about to ensue. When this happened I took a chance and just ran, leaving behind my wallet and identity cards. They didn’t want to chase me in public and shouted: “We will get you!”

I received another threatening call on Tuesday, May 20. They told me to remove all the articles and comments that I have published online about the ongoing arrests or else.⁴⁸