PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 54/040/2007

06 August 2007

Further Information on UA 156/07 (AFR 54/032/2007, 19 June 2007) and follow-up (AFR 54/035/2007, 22 June 2007) Incommunicado detention/fear of torture or ill-treatmentand new concern: Medical concern

SUDAN Abdallah Abdelgaum (m), member of the Mahas community

Alam Eldin Abdelghani (m), lawyer (note corrected name)

Dr Mohamed Jalal Ahmed Hashim (m), lecturer at Khartoum University

Osman Shamat (m), driver

Imad Mirghani Sid Ahmed (m), lawyer

Saad Mohamed Ahmed (m), journalist

Raafat Hassan Abbas (m), journalist

Abdulaziz Mohamed Ali Khairi (m), engineer and community representative

New names: Osman Ibrahim (m), Secretary General, Committee Against the Building of the Kajbar Dam

Mujahed Mohamed Abdallah (m), journalist

The Secretary General of the Committee Against the Building of the Kajbar Dam, Osman Ibrahim, was arrested at his home in Farraig village by some 40 police and security officers on 20 July. He had recently left hospital where he was being treated for diabetes. When he was arrested, the security forces refused to allow him to take his medication with him. Dr Mohamed Jalal Ahmed Hashim, who also suffers from diabetes, was reportedly twice taken to hospital for treatment and returned to prison. Journalist Mujahed Mohamed Abdallah is now known to have been arrested on 13 June.

Abdulaziz Mohamed Ali Khairi was released on 5 August. Raafat Hassan Abbas was released on 23 June, and Saad Mohamed Ahmed on 9 July.

Six others, named above, remain in prison. Most were arrested on 13 June after they arrived in the Northern State capital, Dongola, to investigate the killing of four people in a demonstration against the Kajbar Dam earlier that day in Farraig. Only two of them have been allowed any contact with the outside world: Dr Mohamed Jalal Ahmed Hashim and Alam Eldin Abdelghani have been allowed 15-minute family visits.

All seven detainees are being held in Debek Prison, north of Khartoum, where conditions are very poor, especially in the rainy season, which is now, when there are swarms of mosquitoes and flies. None of those in custody has been formally charged with any offence.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Kajbar Dam is to be located on the third cataract of the Nile. Local residents are protesting against the destruction of their villages and the failure of the authorities to hold a proper consultation over the proposed dam construction.

Article 31 of the 1999 National Security Forces Act gives the security forces the power to detain people for up to nine months without access to judicial review. All those detained over the protests against the Kajbar Dam are likely to be held under this legislation.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Arabic, English or your own language:

-expressing concern for those detained in connection with the construction of the Kajbar Dam;

- urging the authorities to give them immediate and regular access to their families, lawyers, and any medical treatment they may require;

- urging the authorities to release the detainees unless they are to be charged promptly with a recognisably criminal offence;

- urging the authorities to repeal Article 31 of the National Security Forces Act, which allows detainees to be held for up to nine months without access to judicial review.

APPEALS TO:

Prof. Al-Zubair Bashir Taha

Minister of Internal Affairs

Ministry of Interior, PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan

Fax: + 249 183 774339

+ 249 183 776554 (Please mark, "FAO Minister of Internal Affairs")

Salutation: Dear Minister

Mr Muhammad Ali al-Maradhi

Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Ministry of Justice

PO Box 302, Khartoum, Sudan

Fax: + 249 183 780796 (Please mark, "FAO Minister of Justice")

Email: info@sudanjudiciary.org

Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES TO:

Dr Abdel Moneim Osman Taha

Rapporteur, Advisory Council for Human Rights

Khartoum, Sudan

Email: human_rights_sudan@hotmail.com

Human Rights Committee

The Peoples Hall

Omdurman, Sudan

Fax: +249 187 560950

E-mail: info@sudan-parliament.org

and to diplomatic representatives of Sudan accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 17 September 2007.********