Government response to the JEM attacksArbitrary Arrest and DetentionIn 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:
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 DetentionMany 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 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:
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:
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. Abdelshakurs wife told Human Rights Watch:
Since speaking to Human Rights Watch, Abdelshakurs 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 ConditionsTortureSeveral 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:
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:
A 22-year-old man from the Bergo Silihab ethnic group interviewed by Human Rights Watch said:
Inhumane conditions in detentionThose 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:
A 22-year-old man held in the military prison for six days said:
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 ChildrenAccording 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 JEMs 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:
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:
Sudan is obliged to provide family members with essential information on the childs 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 TrialIn 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:
Among the criteria necessary to ensure a fair trial is the right to have the adequate time and facilities to prepare ones defense.40 Censorship of Media and Persecution of Journalists and Human Rights DefendersFollowing the attack by JEM forces on the capital the Sudanese government has been attempting to suppress criticism of the governments 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 NDjamena, Chad in February 2008. This was widely covered in the Sudanese press, which highlighted the Sudanese governments 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:
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.
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.
Targeting and Harassment of Human Rights DefendersHuman 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.
10 Human Rights Watch interview, May 11, 2008. 11 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. Res 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976, Article 9. Sudan ratified the ICCPR in 1998. 12 ICCPR, Articles 2 and 9. Detention is considered arbitrary if it is illegal or if manifestly disproportionate, unjust, discriminatory or unpredictable. See Manfred Nowak, U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: CCPR Commentary (N.P. Engel, 1993), pp. 172-73. 13 ICCPR Article 9 14 ICCPR Article 14 15 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 37(b) 16 According to the preamble of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, enforced disappearances occur, in the sense that persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law. Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, G.A. res. 47/133, 47 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 207, U.N. Doc. A/47/49 (1992). The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 20, 2006, and has been open for signature since February 6, 2007. 17 Human Rights Watch confidential interview, May 20, 2008. 18 Human Rights Watch confidential interview, May 21, 2008. 19 Human Rights Watch confidential interview, May 21, 2008. 20 Human Rights Watch interview, May 20, 2008. 21 Principle 16(1), Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, adapted by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 43/173 of December 9, 1988; Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977, Rule 92. 22 Human Rights Watch confidential interview, May 21, 2008. 23 Human Rights Watch confidential interview, May 21, 2008. 24 Human Rights Watch confidential interview, May 26, 2008. 25 Interim National Constitution of the Republic of the Sudan, adopted July 10, 2005 http://www.mpil.de/shared/data/pdf/inc_official_electronic_version.pdf, article 33 26 See, e.g. ICCPR, article 7. Sudan has signed, but never ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The governments failure to do so have been criticized both domestically and internationally. See, e.g. Human Rights Council Group of Experts report, Sudan: Final report on the situation of human rights in Darfur prepared by the group of experts mandated by the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/6/19),November 2007 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2007.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/EGUA-79ST2K-full_report.pdf/$File/full_report.pdf (accessed June 9, 2008). 27 U.N. Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31 on Article 2 of the Covenant: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/74/CRP.4/Rev.6 (2004), para 15. 28Advert- Republic of Sudan, Ministry of Justice, Anti-Terrorism Unit), Akbar Alyoum, May 27, 2008, p. 2-3. 29 UNICEF welcomes access to children held after justice and equality movement attack on Omdurman, UNICEF, May 31, 2008, http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-7FAQEK?OpenDocument&rc=1&cc=sdn, (accessed, June 15, 2008). 30 Human Rights Watch interview, June 9, 2008. 31 Human Rights Watch confidential interview, May 21, 2008. 32 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) adopted November 20, 1989, G.A. Res. 44/25, annex, 44 U.N. GAOR Supp (No. 49) at 167, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989), entered into force September 2, 1990 - article 37(b) 33 CRC article 37(d) 34 CRC article 37 (c) 35 Convention on the rights of the Child Article 9 (3) 36 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, G.A. res. 54/263 of 25 May 2000, entered into force February 12, 2002, art. 6(3). 37 Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (Paris Principles), January 30, 2007, http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/ParisPrinciples310107English.pdf, para 3.11, 7.45, (accessed June 13, 2008). 38 Forming of five Special Courts for Justice and Equality Movement rebels, Al Sahafa, May 10, 2008, http://www.alsahafa.sd/News_view.aspx?id=49764, (accessed June 11, 2008). 39 Human Right Watch confidential interview, June 12, 2008. 40 ICCPR, Article 14.3.b; African Charter, articles 7 and 25. 41 This was a coercion tactic used widely by the NISS prior to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 to ensure compliance by newspapers. 42 On January 9, 2005, the Sudanese government dominated by the National Congress Party (NCP), and the southern-based rebels, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that brought to an end the bitter and brutal twenty-one-year war between the two parties. Abyei, an oil rich region on the north-south Sudan border, is one of three disputed region under the CPA. The Protocol on the Resolution of Abyei Conflict gave Abyei an administrative status until an independent Boundary Commission, the Abyei Borders Commission (ABC), presents a final and binding decision on the demarcation of the territory. The ABC presented its finding in July 2005; however, this was rejected by the NCP, the main ruling party in the central government. The failure to implement the Protocol on the Resolution of Abyei Conflict has been a cause of contention for the two partners leading to increasingly volatile situation in Abeyi culminating to clashes between the SPLM and NCP with the most recent fighting taking place in May 2008. 43 SUDAN: Fighting could hamper Abyei aid operation UN, The Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), May 21, 2008, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78320, (accessed June 15, 2008). 44 Sudan newspaper closed for publishing report on missing fighter jet, Sudan Tribune, May 15, 2008, http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27169, (accessed June 7, 2008). In latest censorship measures, intelligence agency closes daily for indefinite period, Reports Without Borders (RSF), May 19, 2008, http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=27070 (accessed June 7, 2008). 45 Human Rights Watch interview, May 27, 2008. 46 Human Rights Watch interview, May 21, 2008. 47 Human Rights Watch interview, May 18, 2008. 48 Human Rights Watch interview, May 20, 2008. |