Sudan’s military rulers intensify crackdown on activists and make arrests
CAIRO — Amira Osman was getting ready to go to bed at midnight last month when 30 police officers broke into her Khartoum home.
They blasted on her bathroom door in plainclothes with Kalashnikov rifles, pistols, and batons.
Amani, Osman’s sister and a rights lawyer, said, “It was almost as if they were engaged in a battle or chasing after a dangerous terrorist, rather than a disabled woman.”
Osman, who has been using crutches since an accident in 2017, was twice imprisoned by Sudan’s former autocratic president Omar al-Bashir. She was accused of violating strict Islamic laws regarding women’s dress and behavior. She was also detained because she spoke out against military rule.
Osman was arrested Jan. 22. She is one of hundreds of protest leaders and activists who were targeted by a military coup that overthrew a transitional government last October.
As Sudan continues to spiral into turmoil, there have been near daily street protests. This has sparked fears that al-Bashir’s oppressive tactics will be reintroduced. After three decades of isolation under al-Bashir (who was ousted in 2019 following a popular uprising), the coup ended Sudan’s transition from dictatorship to democracy. Cameron Hudson, an ex-official at the U.S. State Department and Sudan expert at Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, stated that the military sends one message to diplomats: they are interested in a dialogue and fundamental reform of state. However, they then do nothing to conceal their blatant attempts to keep the status quo alive and undermine efforts to unseat them.
Security forces launched a brutal crackdown against protesters after the coup. To stop people gathering, they used tear gas and live ammunition to fire at protesters. According to a Sudanese medical organization, around 80 people were killed and more than 2,200 injured during the protests.
AFRICA
Sudan’s pro-democracy movement hopes for a peaceful transition to civilian rule
The Sudanese security force has also been accused of sexual violence against women who took part in the demonstrations. After the United Nations requested an investigation, the military-led Sovereign Council announced that a probe had been launched into allegations of rape or gang rape. This is not the first instance of rape being accused by security forces — similar attacks were committed under al-Bashir as well as under the military’s transitional period.
The U.S. and U.K. called the pattern “troubling” and demanded the release of all those “unjustly detained.”
In a statement by the U.S. State Department, the group stated that they had reminded Sudan’s military authorities about their obligations to respect human rights and ensure the safety of all detained or arrested persons. They also stressed the importance of ensuring due process in all cases.
International condemnation of Osman’s imprisonment arose from concern and concern. On Sunday, she was released.
Her family didn’t know her whereabouts for almost a week after her arrest. According to her sister, her lawyer, she received a call asking them to send clothing to Omdurman’s twin city Khartoum.
Osman claimed that she was kept in isolation for three days, in “very poor and humiliating conditions”. Eman Mirghani joined Osman in her cell. Mirghani is still in detention.
Authorities charged Osman with illegal weapons and ammunition possession. She claimed that the five “old bullets” she found in her closet were souvenirs of the 2016 national shooting championship, in which she participated, she stated.
It is not clear who the officers who stormed Osman’s home are. They claimed they were part of a drug-combating force. However, Amani Osman (the sister-lawyer) said that she believed they were from the country’s feared General Intelligence Service.
The agency, formerly known as the National Intelligence and Security Service was used for decades by al-Bashir’s government in order to suppress dissent. The military restored the agency’s powers after the coup. This included the ability to detain people without notifying their families. Many of their detainees are kept in secret prisons known as “Ghost Houses.”
Gibreel Hassabu, a Darfur Bar Association lawyer, stated that the exact number of people being held in the county is not known. This situation reminds me of al-Bashir’s rule.
Hassabu claims to know of more than 200 activists and leaders who were detained in the Sudanese capital. According to documents he gave to The Associated Press, many activists were taken from homes or snatched off the streets.
According to documents, at least 46 activists are being held in Khartoum’s Souba Prison. Amira Osman, a female activist, is sent to Omdurman’s women’s prison.
After the Jan. 13 killing of a senior officer of the police close to Khartoum’s presidential palace, the wave of arrests has increased. According to local media, the officer was stabbed and killed. Local media reports that the officer was stabbed to death by security forces at Khartoum’s hospital. Six people were taken into custody, including a wounded protester and two women who were with him. They were accused of being involved in the murder.
His family stated that on Jan. 29, paramilitary soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces (another security organization with a reputation of brutality) grabbed Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Naqdalla from Khartoum’s street.
The RSF’s spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. This force is made up mainly of ex-militiamen and has been involved in atrocities in Darfur’s western region under al Bashir. It is led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (the country’s second most powerful general) and has its own detention facilities in Khartoum as well as other parts of the country.
Authorities have arrested Khalid Omar, who was a minister in the ousted Transitional Government. Omar was detained in the Oct. 25 coup but was released one month later under a deal between civilian and military leaders. The opposition Sudanese Congress Party claimed that Omar was taken to the party’s headquarters on Wednesday.
Wagdi Salh, a member of the government-run agency charged with dismantling al-Bashir’s legacy, was also arrested Wednesday, according to the pro-democracy Forces of Freedom and Change alliance.
Diplomats trying to reach an agreement between the civilian and military leaders have been frustrated by this trend.
Lucy Tamlyn (U.S. charge of affaires in Sudan), stated that arbitrary arrests and detentions of political figures, civil rights activists, and journalists “undermine efforts to solve Sudan’s political crises.”
