The family of Sudanese journalist Somaya Ismail Ibrahim Handoussa has started procedures for a criminal investigation of several employees of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), sources informed Radio Dabanga on Sunday November 4.<\/p>\n
The journalist\u2019s parents stated they started the procedures after finding their daughter on Friday morning, \u201cdumped in the outskirts of Khartoum north (Bahri) with a shaved head, clearly showing signs of torture, psychological and physical exhaustion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somaya, who worked for several Sudanese newspapers including al-Sahafa, currently resides in Egypt and was visiting her family in Sudan for Eid al-Adha.<\/p>\n
She reportedly disappeared from her family home in the evening of October 29. According to a source close to the journalist\u2019s family, she was arrested near her home by seven NISS officers and was taken to one of the \u2018ghost houses\u2019 of the security apparatus.<\/p>\n
The source added that they brought her a number of her articles and writings, accusing her of \u2018opposing the regime and insulting President Bashir\u2019.<\/p>\n
Shaved head<\/strong><\/p>\n Somaya, mother of a three year old son, descendent of the Rizeigat tribe, was \u201cbeaten and tortured with whips and hands\u201d, the source said.<\/p>\n He continued that \u201cthe officers directed racist insults at her and her tribe\u201d, adding that \u201cthey shaved her head completely, under the pretext that her hair looks like the hair of Arabs, while she belongs to a group of slaves in Darfur\u201d, the source added to Radio Dabanga.<\/p>\n