Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim
July 13, 2017
HE Omar Hassan Ahmadal-Bashir
Office of the President
People’s Palace
PO Box 281
Khartoum, Sudan
HI Omar
Your Excellency:
Re: Detention of Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Hafiz Idris and Mobarak Adam Abdalla
Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) is a committee of lawyers, students and academics who campaign internationally for advocacy rights, advocates in danger, and on rule of law issues. We also engage in legal research and education about international human rights law. I am a lawyer and a partner of a law firm in Canada, Cohen Highley LLP, and I am writing to you to ask that you intervene with respect to proceedings involving the above named individuals.
Hadiz Idris, a human rights defender from North Darfur, was arrested by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on November 24, 2016 in Khartoum. Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Chair of the Sudan Social Development Organization and winner of the 2005 Front Line Defenders Award, was arrested by the NISS on December 7, 2016 at the University of Khartoum. Dr. Adam’s family was not notified of his arrest until one week later.
Both Dr. Adam and Hadiz Idris were held incommunicado without being charged or given access to their lawyers from their arrest date to February 15, 2017 at a NISS detention facility near Shandi Bus Station to the Kober prison.
Dr. Adam was not provided with his essential medication for a heart condition and was forced to sit in the sun for long periods of time. Mr. Idris was tortured, by means that included physical beatings, application of electrical shocks and repeated kicks to the testicles causing bleeding.
On March 25, 2017 Mobarak Adam Abdalla, human rights defender was arrested by NISS in Khartoum and held incommunicado at the Kober prison.
On May 11, 2017 the men have been wrongly charged with offences under the 1991 Criminal Act: Articles 21 (Joint acts in execution of criminal conspiracy), 50 (Undermining the constitutional system), 51 (Waging war against the State), 53 (Espionage against the country), 64 (Provoking hatred against or amongst sects), 65 (Criminal and terrorist organizations), and Article 66 (Publication of false news). Two of these charges carry the death penalty. The charges are based on allegations that Mudawi, Hafiz, and Mobarak assisted with publication of the 2016 Amnesty International report Scorched Earth, Poisoned Air: Sudanese Government Forces Ravage Jebel Marra, Darfur. The report chronicles 30 attacks by Sudan, believed to involve the use of chemical weapons, on the Jebel Marra area of Darfur between January and September 2016. The next court session is scheduled to take place on July 20.
Intervention and Action Requested:
LRWC urges the authorities of Sudan to:
- Immediately release Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Hafiz Idris and Mobarak Adam Abdalla;
- Ensure that Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Hafiz Idris and Mobarak Adam Abdalla are not subjected to torture and other cruel, degrading or humiliating treatment of punishment prohibited by the Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and many other instruments;
- Grant Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Hafiz Idris and Mobarak Adam Abdalla access to adequate medical care, access to lawyers of their own choosing, and allow visits from their families;
- Drop the charges against Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Hafiz Idris and Mobarak Adam Abdalla;
- In the event charges are not dropped, to provide Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Hafiz Idris and Mobarak Adam Abdalla with a fair trial before an impartial, independent and competent tribunal; and
- Immediately release the seven other human rights activists being held in detention.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration of our requests for intervention and action.
Yours Very Truly,
Joe Hoffer
Sudan Monitor, Lawyers Rights Watch Canada
Copied to:
The Honourable Christia Freeland, Minister Of Foreign Affairs, 344 Bloor Street West Suite 510 Toronto, Ontario
M5S 3A7
chrystia.freeland@parl.gc.ca
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
Michel Forst
defenders@ohchr.org, urgent-action@ohchr.org
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
David Kaye
freedex@ohchr.org
