Hundreds of Darfuris still detained in Sudan prisons despite release order

Hundreds of Darfuris are still being held in detention by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) despite the order of President Al Bashir to release all political detainees from the country’s prisons on Wednesday.

Kober prison in Khartoum and Port Sudan prison still hold 61 detainees of the Maaliya who have been there for more than nine months, along with seven other UPC students who were arrested after organising speeches at Khartoum Bahri market last year.

Sheikh Musa Hilal and a number of his supporters have also been held for months together with dozens of displaced people and displaced activists from camps in Jebel Marra. Sheikh Matar Younis is one of the most prominent detainees who have been transferred from Darfur to Khartoum.

Mohamed Faroug Salman, the spokesman for the home parties of Sudan Call, wrote on his Facebook page after he was released that he had met with Sheikh Younis in the detention of the security apparatus in Kober prison after he was transferred from Zalingei.

He said until the moment they were released from prison on Tuesday that the sheikh had not been released and explained that he was leading the worshipers in the cell with his beautiful voice reciting the Quran.

SLM-MM

The Sudan Liberation Movement of the leadership of Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) has welcomed the release of the detainees but said that the government has not voluntarily taken this step: “It has done so in anticipation of the visit of the independent expert for human rights to Sudan to investigate and evaluate human rights.”

Yesterday the movement said in a statement that the release of the detainees is also an open manoeuvre in preparation for the forthcoming meeting in Berlin between the government and the armed movements to search for sustainable peace in Sudan.

The movement called for the release of all the detainees and prisoners of war.

The representative of the Sudanese Presidency for diplomatic and negotiation communication of the Darfur Peace File, Amin Hassan Omar, said that the government has received the invitation to meet the Darfuri movements in the German capital Berlin on April 16 and 17.

He said representatives of the government would meet and listen to the movements and then consider their views.