Activists fear more arrests

2008-12-03 18:04

Khartoum - Sudanese rights campaigners are afraid the authorities will arrest more activists suspected of giving prosecutors evidence for a war crimes case against the president, a senior campaigner said on Tuesday.

Amir Suleiman, of the Khartoum International Centre for Human Rights, said he and two other activists had been held and later released last week.

"We fear that maybe other activists will be arrested," Suleiman told reporters. "We are under pressure all the time."

International Criminal Court judges are considering a request made by the ICC's chief prosecutor for an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accusing him of genocide and other war crimes in the western Darfur region.

International experts say 200 000 people have died and more than 2.5 million left homeless in five years of fighting between mostly non-Arab rebels and government-backed militia in Darfur.

Suleiman said security forces repeatedly asked him about his links to the Hague-based ICC during two days of interrogation last week. He denied supplying any evidence to the global court.

There was no immediate comment from Sudan's intelligence services.

UN officers told Reuters this week that aid workers faced increasing harassment in South Darfur where government officials have forced staff to hand over confidential files and emails to try to collect evidence of collaboration with the ICC.

The Sudanese government's Humanitarian Aid Commission in the region denied any harassment had taken place.

Commentators say the ICC judges may not reach a decision on the arrest warrant until the new year.

Amnesty International said along with Suleiman, security forces detained and later released Osman Hummaida, a British citizen and the former director of Sudanese Organisation Against Torture (SOAT), as well as activist Abdel Monim Elgak.

- Reuters