Number of the political prisoners exceeds (100): Sudan’s national dialogue

Khartoum-SudaneseOnline-The member of mechanism for Sudan’s national dialogue, known as the (7+7) committee, Hassan Rizk, has announced that his subcommittee postponed a visit to Kobar Prison which was scheduled Thursday for an indefinitely.
Rizk told Khartoum-Based Al-Rai Al-A’am newspaper on Friday that Interior Ministry has not set a date for their visit, disclosing that the numbers of the political prisoners exceeded the (100), stressed that they want to check on the health of the prisoners before going to negotiate with the armed movements
The (7+7) committee has formed six subcommittees to spearhead the process, also announcing the possible release of political detainees.
After a call in January for the national dialogue on peace and constitutional reforms, president Omer al-Bashir issued a number of decrees on 9 April allowing greater freedom for political parties and vowing to release all political detainees not implicated in criminal acts.
However, in May the security apparatus arrested a fervent defender of the dialogue process and leader of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq al-Mahdi for criticizing the role of government militias in the country’s war zones.
Also the head of the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP), Ibrahim al-Sheikh, has been arrested since June for the same reason. In August, NUP deputy leader Mariam al-Mahdi was also arrested for participating in talks with rebel groups.

Arabic Forum