Sudan

Mohammed Adam (17) and Mohammed al-Fatih (18) have been arbitrarily detained by security authorities in Sudan for over a month in connection with the killing of a policeman earlier this year. There are credible concerns the youths were abducted and held without charge, in violation of their due process rights, and subjected to torture while in detention. The Sudanese authorities must release them unless they are charged and remanded by an independent court.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Mohammed Adam and Mohammed al-Fatih’s arrests were carried out one day after Sudan’s Ministry of Interior released a brief statement announcing the killing of a Police Brigadier during protests in Khartoum, on 13 January. A longer statement released by the Ministry of Interior on 25 January stated that the victim died from injuries sustained as a result of knife stabbings in his left arm and back when he attempted to control protesters. The statement added that police teams managed to track down the perpetrators, and captured a number of suspects, adding that that eye- witnesses had identified the suspects, who were then interrogated, confessed to stabbing the victim and revealed the whereabouts of the murder weapon. The statement went on to say that all technical legal procedures were observed, the accused re-enacted their actions in the crime scene and their judicial confessions were recorded. Although the police statement did not identify the suspects by name, it is widely believed that it was in reference to Mohammed Adam and Mohammed al-Fatih.

A wave of protests has been sweeping Sudan ever since the country’s army staged a coup in October 2021. In response, security forces engaged in a wide range of repressive and violent tactics, including the unnecessary or excessive use of lethal force and arbitrary detentions, to counter acts of opposition to the coup. To date, security forces have killed 81 people and injured hundreds using live ammunition. Hundreds of political activists and protesters have been arbitrarily detained since the coup, which ended more than two years of an uneasy partnership between military and civilian leaders in a transitional government born out of a power-sharing compromise. The compromise was reached following the ouster by military leaders of long-time authoritarian ruler, Omer al-Bashir in April 2019, which followed months of protests orchestrated by civilian opposition leaders, with active participation of women and youth.

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