Lieutenant General Omar Hassan El Bashir
President of the Republic of Sudan
People's Palace
P.O. Box 281
Khartoum
Sudan
Your Excellency,
We are writing to express concern about the detention of Hassan al Turabi, the leader of the opposition Popular National Congress (PNC), who has been detained without trial for one year. We are also concerned about the detention without charges of at least ten other members of the PNC.
Dr. Turabi was arrested on February 21, 2001, on charges of undermining the constitution and waging war against the state, after he signed a memorandum of understanding with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The memo stated that the agreed objectives (working jointly to resolve the crisis and establish a democratic system) would be pursued through peaceful means of popular resistance against the government's authoritarian methods. Two days later, the government brought charges against Dr. Turabi under section 31(1) of the National Security Act 1999, as amended, relating to undermining the constitution and waging war against the state. These articles carry the death penalty under Sudanese law. No trial date was set.
On October 21, 2001, the Constitutional Court granted a defense motion to dismiss the charges. In a highly irregular move, Dr. Turabi was re-arrested by the internal security agency (Jihaz Al Am'n Al Da'khili) immediately before he was physically out of its custody. The agency claimed that he was again arrested under section 31(1) of the National Security Act-although these charges against him had just been dropped by order of the Constitutional Court.
In January 2002, Dr. Turabi's attorneys submitted a new motion to the Constitutional Court for his release on the grounds that that the maximum time that someone can be detained under section 31(1) of the National Security Act-three months and three days-has lapsed. That motion is still pending.
The defense team also noted to Human Rights Watch that the internal security agency had followed none of the procedures under the National Security Act to detain Dr. Turabi this second time, including that there be a recommendation in writing from the internal security agency to the security agency council (composed of security personnel) to extend his period of detention, on a monthly basis, up to the maximum period of three months and three days.
The head of the internal security agency answered this January 2002 motion to release Dr. Turabi in a letter to the court stating that Dr. Turabi was actually detained under section 31(2) of the National Security Act-which allows for up to nine months in security detention before charges must be brought. Section 31 (2) applies to robbery and "ethnic sedition," apparently a reference to the memorandum Dr. Turabi had signed with the SPLA. The defense attorneys received the internal security letter from the acting president of the Constitutional Court. They replied that section 31 (2) was inapplicable because Dr. Turabi was not in a position to commit robbery since he was jailed one year ago, and that the memorandum with the SPLA does not fit the category of "ethnic sedition" because it is a memo between political parties of different religions, ethnicities, and races, agreeing to act together.
While the first charges against Dr. Turabi were still before the court, President Omar El Bashir said that Dr. Turabi would never be released unless he denounced the SPLA memo he had signed.
Dr. Turabi remains under arrest in a government house. After charges were filed against him in February 2001, he was held in Kober Prison in Khartoum North, where he had rights to receive visitors and where he could confer with his associates, who were also in jail from time to time. In the government house where he has been since May 2001, he may not leave the house and only his wife may visit him. This quasi-isolation seems designed to prevent him from political activity.
The handling of this case, the actions of the internal security agency, and the statement by the president of Sudan raise serious concerns about respect for human rights and the rule of law in Sudan. It is alarming that even a politician as prominent as Dr. Turabi, who has held high government office with the president and has been politically active for more than three decades, may be subjected to prolonged detention without trial, with no opportunity to disprove the charges against him in open court.
Members of the PNC have been arbitrarily detained on a repeated basis by government internal security forces as a result of exercising their rights to free expression, association, and assembly. On October 2, 2001, twenty-eight PNC members were detained while attempting to hold a news conference at their headquarters. On October 21, 2001, five more members of the PNC were arrested in Khartoum. Based on the most recent reliable reports, ten members of the PNC remain in detention without charges, five of them in Kober prison. The ten are Adam al Tahir Hamdoun, Ibrahim Abdel Hafiz, Tariq Mahgoub, Suliman Gamous, Haj Majid Suwarr, Unwar Jubarra, Osman Abdulla, AlAmin AbdulRuzak, Nourildeen Adam Ali, and Zuhair Hamid Suliman
Members of other political parties, such as the Communist Party of Sudan, are also repeatedly subjected to arbitrary treatment by internal security and detained, often without charge, for months and years at a time.
Human Rights Watch condemns the detention of persons for the peaceful exercise of fundamental political rights as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Sudan is a party.
Human Rights Watch urges you to guarantee rights accorded to these individuals under international covenants and under Sudanese legislation, including 1999 legislation allowing for the operation of political parties. We urge that these detainees be accorded a fair trial under international and Sudanese law or that they be released immediately.
Sincerely,
Jemera Rone
Sudan researcher
