Detained UNMID staffer charged, feared tortured
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July 19, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese employee of the UN-AU
Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has been detained by local
security authorities since late April and is now charged with offenses
punishable by death, an international NGO said on Thursday.
JPEG - 54.4 kb
Thai officers of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in
Darfur (UNAMID) walk along the bridge rebuilt by their contingent, in
Mukhjar, where the contingent is based, in West Darfur, Sudan (UN
Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran)
The global rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) said in an
appeal for urgent action that Idris Yousef Abdelrahman, a civil
affairs officer working for UNAMID in Nyala, the provincial capital of
South Darfur State, was reported missing on 27 April after he
responded to a summons by the National Intelligence and Security
Services (NISS) which said it wanted to clarify with him on how civil
society participants had been selected to take part in the Doha peace
conference for Darfur.
According to AI release, UNAMID was informed of Abdelrahman’s
detention on 10 May, and that he was not been allowed access to a
lawyer or his family until 12 July.
On 12 July Abdelrahman was charged with ‘undermining the
constitutional system’ and ‘waging war against the state’ under
articles 50 and 51 of the Sudanese Criminal Act 1991, AI said. AI said
it fears that the charges, both of which carry the death penalty as a
maximum sentence, are “politically motivated.”
AI further expressed fears that Abdelrahman is at risk of torture or
other ill-treatment, citing previous patterns of detentions by NISS.
AI argued that Abdelrahman’s detention falls foul of the the Status of
Forces Agreement between the Government of Sudan and UNAMID, saying
that the agreement stipulates that UNAMID’s Joint Special
Representative (JSR) should immediately be informed if the government
considers a UNAMID staff member to have committed a criminal offence.
For its part, UNAMID said it leadership continues to press local
authorities for the immediate release of Abdelrahman.
(ST)
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