Re: Al-Fadi Tambour, Al-Tayib Mohammed Daf’alla and others
To: Ali Osman Mohammad Taha, First vice-president
Mr. Ali Osman Yasin, Minister of Justice and Attorney General
From: Catherine A. Morris, BA, LLB, LLM, member of LRWC
Date: 2004-05-26
We are gravely concerned for their safety. We understand they are being held at Nyala Security Centre, and that many of these people have been tortured or ill-treated. Mr. Abdallah Yusuf Mohammed Abdallah and Mr. Ali Mansour Hasaballah are being detained without charge or trial, and it is not known where they are being held. It is feared they are at risk of torture and ill-treatment. It is believed all of these men are being held in connection with the conflict in Darfur.
We respectfully draw your attention to Article 9 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which Sudan has ratified. This convention prohibits arbitrary detention of individuals and states that anyone arrested on a criminal charge should be brought promptly before a judicial authority and be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or else released. The Convention also provides that detainees should not be held incommunicado or without charges.
We request that your government immediately reveal the whereabouts of Abdallah Yusuf Mohammed Abdallah or Ali Mansour Hasaballah. We also respectfully request that you provide assurances to prevent torture or ill-treatment of any of these detainees and that you instruct relevant authorities to allow them immediate access to their families, legal counsel and any medical care they may need. We also urge your government to condemn publicly all incidents of torture in detention centres in Sudan, and to investigate each and every allegation of torture in detention centres in Darfur so that all those responsible are arrested and brought to justice in accordance with international standards of fair trial.
We do greatly appreciate your attention to these concerns. We would appreciate your writing urgently to LRWC by mail, e-mail or fax to advise of your response and the actions taken by your government to ensure that the above-named persons, and all others detained in Sudan, are treated in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Sudan and the international conventions to which Sudan is a party.
