Gov't detaining Darfur rights defenders, says watchdog

The Sudanese government has arbitrarily detained two human rights activists, apparently for their work in the war-torn western region of Darfur, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. Both are feared to be at risk of inhumane treatment, miscarriages of justice and possible execution. Dr Mudawwi Ibrahim Adam, the head of the Sudan Social Development Organisation, had just returned from a mission to Darfur where he distributed aid to displaced people when he was arrested on 28 December. He was arrested by security forces in Khartoum and is detained in Kober prison, Khartoum, where he has been allowed to see his wife and lawyer only in the presence of police. Shortly after his arrest, he went on a two-day hunger strike, demanding to be charged or released. On 8 February he was charged with waging war against the state, provoking hatred among religious sects, spying, releasing secret information, revealing military information and establishing a criminal organisation. Some of the charges carry the death penalty. Salih Mahmud Muhammad Uthman, a human rights lawyer, was arrested on 1 February 2004 and has been held without charge. He works in Nyala, southern Darfur, providing free legal assistance to people accused or convicted of crimes without fair trial, and in many instances without counsel. Many of his clients face severe punishments, such as the death penalty or cross amputation - where the right foot and the left hand are amputated or vice versa. He was arrested in Wad Madani, Al-Jazirah State in eastern Sudan and transferred to Khartoum two days later. He is currently being held in Kober prison. For the last 14 months civilians in Darfur have been systematically attacked, killed, raped and chased from their burning villages by government and government-aligned forces, including the Janjawid militias, according to HRW. The government says it is fighting against the region's two main rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, but its forces are arbitrarily attacking all of Darfur's civilians from the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawah tribes, observers note. "For the past year, the Sudanese government and its militias have waged war on the people of Darfur," Jemera Rone, an HRW Sudan researcher, was quoted as saying. "Now the government is persecuting those who are trying to protect these voiceless victims." "Sudan has a record of arresting and harassing human rights defenders, and of torturing persons suspected of sympathising with armed rebels, including in the Darfur region," HRW went on to note. "Incommunicado detention in particular raises the danger of torture, and HRW urges that all detainees be given access to private visits from family and legal counsel." The rights watchdog urged the Sudanese government to release Salih Mahmud from detention or promptly charge him with a crime, and to provide Mudawwi with a fair hearing to determine whether there is any merit to the charges brought against him.