ASA Memorandum on Gross Human Rights Violations in Sudan

03:55 AM February, 07 2018

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Memo From: The American-Sudanese Alliance (ASA) in Washington D.C.

Date: 8 February 2018
Memo To:
UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR)
UN Independent Expert on the situation of Human Rights in Sudan, Mr. Aristide Nononsi
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)
ACHPR Commissioner on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan, Mr. Lawrence Murugu Mute
Arab Commission for Human Rights (ACHR)
President of the secretariat of the ACHR, Mr. Mohamed Yacoub
Amnesty International - Human Rights Watch - Human Rights Organizations


Dear Esteemed Human Rights Defenders,


We write to you regarding the deeply concerning human rights situation in Sudan. Hundreds of government opponents, including prisoners of conscience, were detained without charge or trial. Torture was widespread. Methods used included beatings and forcing detainees to do physical exercises or to stand for long periods. Political detainees included women, journalists, human rights activists, students, trade unionists, and members of political parties. The majority of prisoners arrested and held in security offices and in secret detention centers. Some were reportedly freed but the majority remained unaccounted for.


Since January 2018, several anti-government demonstrations and peaceful marches took place in several towns including Khartoum, Omdurman, and Khartoum North, the triangular capital, followed increases in the price of bread and the collapsing of the national currency. Sudanese from virtually all sectors of society, from northern Sudan, Darfur, the war-torn South Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, suffered human rights violations as the authorities continued to suppress political opposition.


The American-Sudanese Alliance (ASA) in Washington D.C. is deeply concerned by ongoing widespread and gross human rights violations and abuses, and arbitrary detention by Sudanese authorities of peaceful civil society party members and activists; more than 280 were detained, among them; the Secretary General of the Umma National Party (UNP), Ms. Sarah Nugdalla, Umma Party Co-Vice President and Head of the Darfur Bar Association Mohamed Abdallah El Doma, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Sudan (CPS) Mohammed Mukhtar Al-Khateeb, Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) President Omer Al-Digair, Center for Training and Protection of Women and Child's rights’s director, Ms. Nahid Gabralla SeidAhmed, and Ms. Amal Habani, human rights defender, journalist, and Coordinator in the No Oppression Against Women Initiative, and recipient of the 2014 Amnesty International Ginetta Sagan Award.

In another development, on Monday, January 22, 2018, nine of the detainees were transferred from National Security and Intelligence Service (NISS) detention centers to the Zalingei prison in central Darfur, 1019 kilometers (633 miles) southwest of the capital Khartoum.

ASA condemns the use of excessive force by Sudanese authorities to disperse peaceful demonstrators and the human rights situation in Sudan and recommends that the UN Commission on Human Rights assign human rights field officers to monitor the human rights situation. We are concerned that government forces will continue to use excessive force against protesters and to arbitrarily detain those who participate in them as they have done repeatedly.

We call on the international community – and particularly the UN Human Rights Council – to take action to end the widespread human rights abuses being perpetrated in Sudan, and to:
Express concern at the arrest and continuing of detention of prisoners of conscious
Urge the Sudanese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release prisoners of conscious
Request assurances that prisoners of conscious are being humanly treated, that they have immediate and regular access to their families, lawyers, and any necessary medical attention.


The American-Sudanese Alliance (ASA) in Washington D.C.
For more information, please contact:

[email protected]

Hisham Ibrahim Elmufti
+ 1 (703) 945-4888

Aymen Tabir
+ 1 (703) 477-1949

AbdelRahman Hamid
+ 1 (410) 979-4145