Detained human rights activist risks torture

Adil Ibrahiem Bakheit, member of the Board of Trustees of the Sudan Human Rights Monitor (SHRM), human rights activist and trainer was arbitrarily arrested and charged by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) in Khartoum on 16 April. He may be at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Adil Ibrahiem Bakheit, father of two, a human rights trainer and activist, was summoned by NISS on 16 April, and arrested after a brief interrogation. He was interrogated about his work and about a consultancy contract with Tracks for Training and Human Development (Tracks) which the NISS found in his laptop. Adil was charged at the State Security Prosecution Office with seven criminal offences under the Penal Code including two which carry the death penalty. The capital offences are «Undermining the Constitutional System» and «Waging war against the state». Due process provisions were not followed during his arrest.

According to a source from Tracks, NISS agents raided their offices in Khartoum on 26 March, interrupting a workshop on social responsibility. NISS agents confiscated all the laptops in the premises including Adil’s laptop, although he was not part of the training workshop. Tracks provides training on a range of issues including: information technology, capacity building, and human rights for private sector, local and international NGOs. Adil Ibrahiem Bakheit’s laptop contains human rights education material he uses in his work with Tracks and other training service providers in Sudan.

Amnesty International spoke to Adil’s wife who confirmed that she was able to visit him at Al Awasat police station in Khartoum where he is being detained. Adil is the main provider for his family, and was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Amnesty International is concerned that Adil Ibrahiem Bakheit has been arrested solely for his work in human rights and that this is part of the overall pattern of suppression and harassment of human rights activists in Sudan that the organisation has been documenting.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Amnesty International has documented the intensification of an NISS-led crackdown on activities of civil society organizations and activists in Sudan since January 2015. The NISS maintains broad powers of arrest and detention under the National Security Act 2010, which allows suspects to be detained for up to four-and-a-half months without judicial review. NISS officials often use these powers to arbitrarily arrest and detain individuals, and subject them to torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Under the same Act, NISS agents are provided with protection from prosecution for any act committed in the course of their work, even when human rights violations occur, which has resulted in a pervasive culture of impunity. The constitutional amendments passed by Parliament on 5 January 2015, have exacerbated the situation. The constitutional amendments granted sweeping powers to the NISS, which now has unlimited discretion to interfere in political, economic and social issues.

Aside from being a human rights activist, Adil Ibrahiem Bakheit has also been an independent trainer who collaborates with a number of independent civil society groups in Sudan on human and women’s rights, election observation, environmental conservation and civic education. As a trainer and activist, he played a prominent role in the 2010 elections and 2011 referendum observations in Sudan.

Name: Adil Ibrahiem Bakheit