Re: Release of Mr. Sati’ Mohamed Al-Hajj, human rights lawyer, Mr. Yusuf Hussein, Mr. Tariq Ahmed Gasim, aged 21, and Mr. Fawaz Salah Al-Sayed, aged 21; Release and Reports of torture and ill-treatment of Mr. Tariq Ahmed Gasim and Fawaz Salah Al-Sayed and others including children, aged 15 to 18.
To: Mr. Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, First Vice-President; Mr. Mustafa Osman Ismail, Minister of Foreign Affairs
From: C. A. Morris, B.A., LL.B., LL.M.
Date: 2005-04-28
We are writing to you to follow up our letter of April 23, 2005 concerning the above named men who were arrested on April 21, 2005 in Khartoum.
LRWC welcomes the news of the release of all four of the above named men without charge on April 22, 2005, at approximately 11:00 pm. However, we remain very concerned about reports that Mr. Tariq Ahmed Gasim and Fawaz Salah Al-Sayed were tortured. We request and urge your government to insist promptly on a full, impartial investigation into these allegations, and to ensure that anyone found responsible is brought to justice. We also reiterate our concern about allegations of torture and ill-treatment of four boys (unnamed in our reports), age 15 to 18, arrested and released on April 21, 2005.
We remind you of Sudan¡¯s obligations to abide by provisions of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), including implementation of the rights of adults and children:
- to be protected from torture (ICCPR, nonderogable Article 7; and CRC Article 37, and the fundamental principles of customary international law). We also note that torture is a violation of Article 115.2 of the 1991 Sudan Penal Code;
- to be protected from arbitrary detention (ICCPR Article 9 and CRC Article 37);
- to exercise freedom of expression (ICCPR Article 19, and CRC Article 13);
- to exercise freedom of association and peaceful assembly (ICCPR Article 21, 22, and CRC Article 15);
We request that you reply to LRWC by email or fax to advise us what steps you are taking to implement these Conventions in Sudan, and particularly what steps you are taking to investigate promptly the above allegations of torture and ill treatment of these individuals including children. Thank you for your attention to these requests.
