Omar Al Bashir, President of Sudan
Photo Credit: Human Rights Watch
The government of Sudan released 56 opposition party members and human rights defenders without charge on 10 April 2018. Those released include Omer Yousef El Digair, the chairperson of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP), Almahi Suliman, the chairperson of SCP in Sennar State, Mohamed Mukhtar al Khatib, the political secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party, Mohamed Farouk Salman, a leading member of Sudan National Alliance – Forces, Mohieldeen Eljalad and Sidgi Kaballo, members of the Sudanese Communist Party’s central committee, Ismail Adam Hamid, a political activist, Amjed Farid, a medical doctor and human rights defender, Omer Ushari, a human rights defender, Salih Mahmoud Osman, a human rights defender and Vice-Chairperson of the Darfur Bar Association and Khalid Omer Yousif, the acting chairperson of the SCP who was appointed after Omer Yousef’s arrest. Five other detainees arrested under the same circumstances as the 56 were released earlier in March. For nearly three months, they were held in poor prison conditions. According to some of those released, detainees were housed 20 to a metre cell, no access to lawyers, books or any reading materials (except for the last week of their detention), and visits with family were restricted to 30 minutes of supervised visits every two weeks. Additionally, during these family visits, discussion of politics and prison conditions was prohibited. LRWC sent a letter on 19 March 2016 (Joe Hoffer) calling for the release of some of these people.
