Sudan detains dissidents - UN expert
2013-02-11 07:34
Khartoum - Sudan's security services are holding opposition
figures and other detainees without trial, denying medical care to some who
need it urgently, a UN human rights expert said on Sunday after a visit.
Encouraged by revolutions that have unseated rulers in
Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, pro-democracy activists have staged a wave of small
protests against veteran ruler Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in power since 1989.
Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS)
have clamped down hard on street protests in Khartoum and other cities, and
authorities have refused to give any details of arrests.
"I am concerned about the arrest and detention of
political opposition figures and other individuals by the NISS," said
human rights expert Mashood Adebayo Baderin, giving no details on the
detainees.
"I urged the government to release [them] or promptly
charge them with recognisable offences and bring them before a court of
law," Baderin said after meeting the UN and government officials as well
as non-governmental groups.
Baderin, a Nigerian asked by the UN Human Rights Council to
assess the situation in Sudan, had made his first visit in June.
In a statement released by the United Nations, he said the
government must tackle abuses by the security services, which usually tolerate
no street protests or critical media articles.
Major challenges
"I must emphasise that violation of human rights by the
NISS has been raised consistently by most stakeholders I met during this visit
and I urge the government to take this matter seriously," Baderin said.
He also criticised authorities for closing several
independent think tanks, despite a call in his last report for civil society
groups to be allowed to operate freely.
There was no immediate comment from the government, which
routinely denies human rights violations by the authorities.
In contrast to his first trip, Baderin was this time allowed
out of Khartoum and visited the western region of Darfur, scene of a
decade-long rebellion by mainly non-Arab tribes against a government that they
accuse of neglecting them.
He said major challenges existed for human rights in Darfur
despite a "relative improvement" due to the work of UN agencies.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants
for Bashir and other Sudanese officials on charges of masterminding war crimes
in Darfur. They deny the charges and refuse to recognise the court.
Human rights groups and the United Nations estimate that
hundreds of thousands of people have died in Darfur's conflict. The government
says at least 10 000 people have been
killed.
