Urgent Appeal: Release protestor Mohammed Salah

Mohamed Salah, a university student and detainee by NISS, is facing serious health risks as a result of torture and ill-treatment.

We are the parents and siblings of Mohamed Salah, a 23-year-old student in his final year at the University of Khartoum, Faculty of Science. Mohamed was arrested at 9:00 pm on Sunday the 24 June from Al Rayad neighborhood in Khartoum state. Earlier in the same day Mohamed had participated in a student’s peaceful protest at the University of Khartoum. Mohamed was detained together with three colleagues of his, one of whom was released after a few hours and the other was released earlier last week.

We were informed by some of his fellow students on the same day that he was detained by NISS. In line with Sudan national security and intelligence law as a family we are to be allowed a visit 15 days after his detention. After three days of his arrest we delivered clothes to the NISS reception office and were informed by them that they were received immediately.

We submitted our first application for a visit on July 8, 2012; on July 10 we received a phone call from NISS stating that the visit request was rejected with no explanations. Later on July 12, we received anther phone call and the visit was granted.

We saw Mohamed for the first time since his arrest on Saturday July 14 in Kober’s prison, Khartoum North. The visit was under the supervision of two NISS personnel and we were ordered not to ask Mohamed about his wellbeing and what happened to him inside the prison. The visit lasted only about 10 minutes and then we were asked to leave.

During the brief time we spent with him, we noticed that both his hands and legs were shaking and his shoulders were shivering despite the hot weather. There was also a dark bruise on his forehead that could not be missed. Another observation was that his skin colour has gone from dark brown into a very pale colour with dark spots across his hands and feet. Mohamed has chronic kidney disease, and he informed us that he has no access to clean water inside the prison.

In addition to all this Mohamed was deprived of his permanent eye classes which he can not see without, and when we brought eye glasses to the NISS to deliver to him they refused to receive them. Further NISS also refused to receive Mohamed’s study materials although he is in his final year with final exams coming up. He also missed the deadline of submitting his graduation essay, which was on July 5, which exposes him to failure to graduate this year.

Many of Mohamed’s fellow students who were in detention have spoken to us, his family, of the ill treatment, different forms torture, including ongoing beatings and use of sharp tools and sticks on regular basis against them. His condition, shaking, bruising and behaviour are in line with these reports and are indicative of torture.

What Mohamed and many of the detainees’ were subject to is clearly against the entire international and regional commitments of the government of Sudan, including The International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the UN convention against torture to which is Sudan is a signatory. Furthermore what Mohamed is undergoing clearly contradicts the Sudanese laws and the interim constitution and its bill of rights.

Moreover, the acts of torture and ill-treatment of students and political detainees, men and women, from our perspective as a Sudanese family stand against all Sudanese ethics and values.

Mohamed, finally, has no access to legal assistance nor is he allowed to meet a lawyer in further contravention of his civil and political liberties.

We call upon the government of Sudan to:

• Immediately and unconditionally release of Mohamed Salah
• Urgently provide access for him to specialized medical care
• Allow him to receive his medical spectacles

Copy to:
- The President of Sudan, Omar Albashir.
- National, Regional and International human rights organizations.
- Sudanese Political parties and civil society bodies.
- National, regional and international media.
- The president of the Sudanese national intelligence and security service.
- The minster of Justice.

On behalf of the family:
His mother: Zainab Badreldin Mohamed
His Father: Salah Mohamed Abdelrhman
His siblings: Walaa Salah Mohamed Badreldin Salah Mohamed

To contact the family please call his father at: +249121960044 or his sister at +249910469596