Sudan: Continued targeting of opposition political leaders by Sudanese authorities

(27 October 2022) African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) expresses deep concern over the continued arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition political leaders in Sudan by security agencies. ACJPS has documented an incident where four opposition political leaders were arrested, detained, and are facing charges related to publishing false news under Article 24 the Cybercrime Act, 2018 based on a statement published on Facebook.

On 4 August 2022, Mr. Bakhit Hariri Jarar, a police officer working with the detective unit at Zalingi Police Station, Central Darfur filed a case under article 24 (false news) of the Cyber Crimes Act 2018 against four political leaders affiliated with the Alliance of Freedom and Change (FFC). This followed a statement issued and published by the FFC on 3 August 2022 on Facebook. The statement condemned the unjustified violent attack/assault of Mr. Omer Abdul Rahman Arbab by Mr. Hariri at 9:00 am on the Main Street. The case was registered but remained pending as no action was taken until 17^th October 2022 when the police started making arrests of the political leaders from the main street and detained at them at Zalingi Police Station. The detainees were later released on bond. The case is still open and under investigation.

The names of the detainees are:

• Hamdan Ali, representative of the Baath Arabic party at FFC
• Ahmed Mohamed Eltahir, representative of the New Force Movement at FFC
• Numiri Mohamed Juma, representative of Democratic Unionist Party at FFC
• Hafiz Ibrahim, representative of Uma National Party at FFC

Over the years, social media platforms have been increasingly used by Sudanese citizens to voice concerns over the governance of their country, among others. Given the restrictive space, the online platforms are used as a medium to freely express concerns and commentary on different issues affecting the ordinary citizen. However, the Government has extended its repressive tactics and carried out arrests and interrogation of individuals for their online activity and relied on crimes under the Cybercrimes Act to charge individuals for their social media activity.

In a different incident, on 12^th October 2022, Mr. Wajdi Salih Abdo, a 55-year-old advocate, a leader in the Baath Arabic Party and formerly a member of the Anti-corruption and Dismantle committee of the 30^th June 1989 regime (ACDCJR) reported to the Northern Khartoum Police station following a newspaper announcement by the office of the prosecutor in North Khartoum requesting him to report to their office. Mr. Salih willingly turned himself in and he was detained at the police station.

Mr. Salih is a well-known lawyer and political figure with a permanent address. He neither went into hiding nor left the country and therefore there was no need for the public announcement as he could have been served with a criminal summons. This clearly shows the abuse of power under article 78 of the Sudanese Criminal procedure Act by Sudanese authorities. Mr. Salih discovered that a case was filed against him by the minister of finance and national economy in January 2021 under the mandate of ACDCJR. He was therefore charged under article 177 (criminal breach of trust) of the Sudanese Penal Code 1991 in relation to Algaris Company.

Mr. Mohamed AlFaki Suleiman, a former member of the Sudanese sovereign council and Mr. Sami Balla, a member of ACDCJR were also charged under article 177 of the Sudanese Penal Code 1991 together with Mr. Salih. The charges were later dropped by the prosecutor and three suspects were released from police custody. However, in October 2022 the high prosecutor overturned the decision of the prosecutor of North Khartoum and reinstated the charges against the three suspects. Although reasons for the reinstatement of the charges were not given, it clearly targeted Mr. Salih as he was again arrested and detained.

On 16^th October 2022 the acting minister of interior, General Anan Hamid without notice visited the Northern Police Station and specifically went into the cell where Mr. Salih was detained and took some of his personal belongings such as a pillow, sheets, medicine, and food supplies authorized by the police. General Anan also ordered that any family visits and items to Mr. Salih must be approved by him.

The Baath Arabic Party formerly a member of the Sudanese Alliance for Freedom and Change announced that it will not be part of any political deal in Sudan. This decision has since made the party a target by Sudanese authorities which has seen some leaders of the party such as Mr. Salih get arrested.

ACJPS urges the Sudanese authorities to respect and guarantee the right to freedom of expression as provided for in article 56 of the Constitutional Declaration of 2018 and international and regional human rights treaties that Sudan is a state party to. ACJPS further urges the Government to ensure that this freedom is protected both online and off-line in accordance with the constitution and universally accepted standards. The Government should further instruct its law enforcement agencies to cease harassment and intimidation of individuals exercising their rights legitimately. ACJPS also calls for the decriminalization of false news and proposes a law reform within the country to adhere to regional and international standards to which Sudan has committed, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

We further call for the authorities of Sudan to immediately guarantee the safety of Mr. Wajdi Salih Abdo and grant him free access to his family members and lawyers. He should be promptly brought before a judge and his procedural rights must be always guaranteed.

Background

The Government of Sudan has relied on restrictive laws to control press freedom as well as online activity. The Cybercrimes Act was designed by the deposed dictatorial regime to limit the freedom of activists, bloggers, and media professionals, as well as other laws such as the press and publications. In March 2021, a human rights defender was charged with the offense of false news  under article 24 of the Cyber Crimes Act following a Facebook post. In May 2018, ACJPS reported about four Sudanese citizens who were charged with defamation and cybercrimes for social media activity. In June 2018 amendments to the Cybercrimes Act introduced criminal penalties for spreading fake news online.

In July 2020, the Sovereign Council signed into law the Cybercrime Prevention (Amendment) Act 2020. These amendments relate to the 2018 Cybercrimes Act. The amendments increased terms of imprisonment for various penalties including the online publication of false news whose maximum prison term  raised to four years from one year.

The Government’s efforts to combat information related crimes have been viewed as attempts to extend restrictions to online content with an aim of further suppressing dissenting voices. According to a Freedom House report, Sudan’s score on civil liberties is 10 out of 60 in 2020.

For more information, please contact mossaad.ali@acjps.org