بيان صحفى من مجلس الأمناء للمنظمه السودانيه لمناهضه التعذيب

Quote: Quote: /B]BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: This is Bridget Conley-Zilkic. With me today is Salih Osman Mahmoud who is a human rights lawyer from Sudan. He is based in Darfur, in Nyala the capital of southern Darfur in the Jebel Marra region. Mr. Mahmoud, thank you very much for joining me today. SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: You’re welcome. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: I’d like to start by asking you to introduce our listeners to the work that you’re doing as a human rights lawyer in Sudan. What organization do you work with? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: I have been working as a human rights lawyer long ago, even before the eruption of this current situation on individual basis because I come from the region that has been witnessing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. I was aware of this part long ago through my work. So after the eruption of the current situation, we organized ourselves. I mean, we lawyers from the region there. There are few, very few of us and we became partners with Sudan Organization Against Torture [SOAT]. I was arrested and after my release in 2004, I went to came back again to Nyala. I and other colleagues were able to set up the Amel Center for rehabilitation of victims of violence and torture. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: You were arrested in 2004 and imprisoned for seven months. Was that because of the human rights work that you were doing? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: Absolutely. That was the reason. I was never charged with any offense, but it was only because I had been voicing out on behalf of the victims and I was actually criticizing the policy of the Sudan government towards Darfur because I do believe that the people of Darfur are entitled to enjoy equal rights with other Sudanese. We were able to set up this Amel Center with three sections. One section was the free legal aid section. The other one was the medical treatment section. And the third was the psychosocial support section to treat traumatized girls and women who had been sexually abused. Now Amel Center and SOAT recently witnessed some kind of internal difficulties. Almost all our colleagues who had been working there are no longer members of these two organizations actually, because we’d seen that they are difficulties and it seemed that also it is now more and more becoming a government controlled organization -- especially SOAT. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: How does the government exert control over a non-governmental human rights organization like Amel Center? What sorts of things were they doing? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: It is not Amel Center as such, but because Amel Center is immensely affected by the fact that SOAT, which is based in London now, has a new board of directors and executive manager who more or less are like not very much seeming to advocate the same issues of human rights we have been working on that is the issue of protections of the basic rights. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: So the government was able to change the board of directors? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: I think so many people believe that it was the government people which had already been there to change or to affect the work of SOAT. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: I want to go back to the time when you were working with them and the organization had some freedom to work on the issues that you chose to work on. How did you manage to deal with -- because the scale of the conflict in Darfur is enormous, how many people were you able to treat? What kind of problems were you seeing as people are coming to you for help? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: When we were operating as the human rights defender actually, both organizations, SOAT and Amel won huge credibility. Not only among the affected population of this particular ethnicity that had been targeted, mainly the Fur, Zaghawa, Masalit, Amel Center was in the middle, always providing all these kinds of free legal aid and medical aid, medical treatment and then psychosocial support. Through this work, Amel Center was able to secure the trust and gain the trust of all the victims in the community there. It was actually one of a kind, the first one of its kind in the area working on the area on the field of protection. Because there are hundreds of NGO’s [non-governmental organizations] that are also efficiently working with other things like humanitarian relief. But Amel Center was the only one working in the area of protections of basic rights. We achieved a tremendous result because thousands of people benefited from that center. This is why it attracted the attention of the government. Almost all members of Amel Center were arrested, sometimes intimidated, harassed, arbitrarily arrested and beaten and it was not only me. There are other colleagues and members who have been treated the same way, with arrest and so on. Nevertheless, we continued, even to expand. The number continued to expand. Right now we are actually covering the entire region of Darfur, that is the western state, southern state and northern state. Actually we will find ways how to set up the organization to continue that work even with a wider mandate to address the situation that is really to be described as one of the worst human sufferings ever on earth today. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: Does your organization now have a website or a way that listeners can stay in touch with the work you’re doing? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: There is still no website, but actually immediately when we finish all the preparations, we are going to spread this information. Definitely we will call you also to inform you about the new set up. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: Thank you. I also wanted to ask about how you became a member of Parliament? How does someone working on human rights issues criticizing a government that has extensive control over society, how do you become part of that government? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: I’m not actually a part of this government at all. In the Parliament I belong to the opposition group. I am a member of the Legislation Committee in the Parliament working on the issue of reforms in our judicial system to bring them into conformity with the international criteria and standards. I became a member of the Parliament after the conclusion of the CPA, that is the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government in the north and SPLM from the south. Then later on the Agreement of Cairo, that was between the government and the Democratic National Alliance, that is a coalition of northern opposition parties that was based in Cairo. Opposition groups were also invited to nominate members for the Parliament and the National Democratic Alliance had 20 members in the Parliament today. I am one of them. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: Are you able to pass legislation and to change Sudanese legal systems? Do you have much room to accomplish your goals in the Parliament? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: It is a very difficult process. The composition of this interim constitution is really very interesting to know. It is the NCP that is the National Congress Party that has the overwhelming majority inside the Parliament: 52 percent of the seats belong to the National Congress Party according to the provisions of CPA. The second caucus is the SPLM from the south, and then we are the third. But I think our presence in the Parliament is more positive than if we are not there. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: I wanted to also ask you about two events in Sudan this summer -- that took place over the spring and summer. The first was when the Darfur-based rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement made an assault on Omdurman, the twin city with Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. How did that attack affect your ability to work in the government structures in Khartoum? And have you seen any signs of retribution inside Darfur? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: This attack was a direct consequence of the situation in Darfur I think. Although on personal point of view, I have some kind of reservations about that kind of attack in Khartoum, but most of the area of concern for me as a human rights defender and a member of the Parliament was that after the attack all Darfuris in Khartoum in the capital were vulnerable. Thousands of them have been arbitrarily arrested and so many were extrajudicially killed, and so many were also subjected to torture. Very few of them have been brought to courts. Three courts special courts were set up immediately, one in Khartoum, one in Omdurman and other one in Khartoum North. It’s interesting to know that some lawyers from the north even offered to intervene and provide free legal aid to those accused who were facing capital charges. I was actually the defense counsel leading the group of the defense lawyers in front of the Omdurman court. Unfortunately, laws that were designed to be applied in these three courts were as such not to allow accused to actually benefit from the possibility of bringing any defense in front of the court. These laws which were designed actually, which were set up by the Minister of Justice, were contrary and even in contradiction with the interim constitution and constitution of laws were set up to try these people. Then the result actually was as expected. All of these people were convicted and sentenced to death. It’s good also that we applied to the Constitutional Court challenging this set up of the courts and the laws that were applied. Now the Constitutional Court decided that the penalty of death be suspended until they look at the appeal we presented in front of them. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: The final question is about an event this summer when the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested that an arrest warrant be issued for Sudan’s President Bashir. What is your reaction to that request? SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: It is now five years since this human suffering erupted. All the criminals are still beyond the reach of our domestic justice because the government doesn’t want to bring anybody to justice -- especially those individuals who are affiliated to the regular forces and the Janjaweed militias. It is only the International Criminal Court that has that jurisdiction. The reaction from the camps, among the survivors, is that at least there they are now convinced that there is somebody to say no to impunity There is somebody to tell the world that actually crimes that have occurred and are still occurring in Darfur are such horrible as to be called genocide today. Now the reaction from the government is that they used to always challenge the jurisdictions of the ICC on Sudan, but I think even organizing rallies now seems not to help the situation very much. I think they are also thinking of setting up new courts in Darfur again to tell the people that they are about to change the policies about this culture and atmosphere of impunity. They are also negotiating the possibility of challenging the jurisdictions of the ICC and that is going to be only in front of the court itself. I think this is to be impolitely considered as a cooperation with the court. It is early to exactly evaluate the overall situation. BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: Mr. Mahmoud, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me today. SALIH OSMAN MAHMOUD: You’re welcome very much. Bye. NARRATOR: You have been listening to Voices on Genocide Prevention, from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. To learn more about preventing genocide, join us online at www.ushmm.org/conscience. There you'll also find the Voices on Genocide Prevention weblog