The family of Ibrahim El Sheikh, former head of the Sudanese Congress Party, has contradicted the statements of the Information Office of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) that they are able to visit him.
Together with the party’s political secretary, Abubakar Yousif, El Sheikh was held by NISS agents at a checkpoint in Jebel Awlia, south of Khartoumandnbsp;on 19 July, after a visit to a large group of Darfuri students who were barred from entering the Sudanese capital after they had collectively resigned from the Bakht El Rida University.
After lawyers of the party officially requested the NISS legal department to release El Sheikh and Yousif on Sunday, NISS officers said the detainees are in good health and in contact with their families.
In a statement on Monday, Amani Malik, El Sheikh’s wife, confirmed on behalf of the family that she has not been allowed to see her husband. She was only allowed to hand clothes to the reception of the NISS office.
She expressed the family's deep concern over the detainees’ health and safety, and demanded their “immediate release”.
El Sheikh wasandnbsp;detained earlierandnbsp;by the security apparatus. In 2014, he was held for more than three months for calling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by the NISS, unconstitutional.